The Social and Demographic Correlates of Divorce and Separation in the United States: An Update and Reconsideration

Abstract

This study examines the social and demographic correlates of divorce and legal separation in the US using data from the National Opinion Research Centers General Social Surveys for the mid to late 1970s. Blacks generally have much higher rates of marriage dissolution than whites; but due to small numbers of blacks in the sample this study deals only with whites. The divorce rate is much higher for those who marry at or near age 20 than for those who marry later. Frequent attendance of religious services has a strong negative correlation with divorce. The divorce rate is higher for Protestants than for Catholics and higher for Catholics than for Jews. Persons with no religion have the highest divorce rate of all. In the US divorce rates generally increase from East to West and from North to South. People living in the central cities of the larger SMSAs have higher divorce rates; suburban rates are similar to those for rural areas and smaller cities. In general the higher the socioeconomic status the lower the divorce rate although some evidence indicates that people who do not finish a unit of education may also have higher divorce rates. Divorced women are more likely to work possibly because of economic necessity. For men the 4 socioeconomic variables--educational status occupation occupational prestige and income--do not explain as much variation in the divorce rate as age at first marriage or frequency of attendance of religious services; for women the socioeconomic variables explain more of the variation in the divorce rate than other variables but not much more. The authors propose that the higher divorce rate groups--those without religion residents of the divorce belt and central city residents--may be less likely to be integrated into social groups characterized by similar values and social control.