Remarriage and Integration within the Community

Abstract

This article reports a study examining the relationship between several social characteristics of remarried persons and the extent and type of their integration within the community. Three dimensions of community integration were measured: time spent with others, loyalty conflicts, and communication. A sample of 784 remarried husbands and wives were surveyed and classified according to type of remarriage-remarriages in which one partner was first-married and the other was previously married (Type F:R) and those with two remarried spouses (Type R:R). When measures of community integration were regressed upon all independent variables, the type of remarriage did not have a significant effect on any of the three integration measures. However, when the type of remarriage was a control variable, different integration patterns emergedfor the two types of remarriages. The identified predictors were least effective in explaining the social integration of husbands in Type F:R remarriages and most effective in explaining Type R:R husbands' integration. The data suggest that age, education level, and presence of children are associated with greater involvement in community life, and that spouses in Type F:R remarriages are more intimately connected to an extended kin network.