The Impact Of Race On Divorce In The United States

Abstract

Population Survey, a study was done to examine the effect of race on divorce in the United States, controlling for various risk factors noted in previous research. Life table and Cox proportional hazards models were specified. The risk factors controlled included age at first marriage, marriage cohort, marital status at first birth, age at first birth, presence of children, place of residence, family income, housing type, labor force status, and education. The results of the analysis confirm the existence of the hypothesized relationships. With regard to race evidence was found to suggest that divorce probabilities are higher among African Americans than Whites. African American women were 1.8 times as likely to divorce as their white counterparts. Contrary to some past research reports, however, it was observed that the variables that predict divorce among African Americans are the same that do so for Whites. Moreover, the difference between African Americans and whites with regard to divorce risks was not as strong as some previous studies had reported. Analysis showed that women with higher levels of education ( college or graduate degrees) were significantly more likely to divorce than their counterparts with only high school education. The results also reinforce the findings reported in many prior studies that divorce rates in the United States rose consistently in the 1970s and early 1980s. Cohort analysis by age and year of marriage show that the probabilities of divorce in the first 5 to IO years of marriage have increased, especially for the recently married.