Incidence Of Divorce Research Articles

Divorce among physicians and other healthcare professionals in the United States: analysis of census survey data

Objectives To estimate the prevalence and incidence of divorce among US physicians compared with other healthcare professionals, lawyers, and non-healthcare professionals, and to analyze factors associated with divorce among physicians.Design...

Predictive Potentials of Some Psycho-Socio-Personal Variables on Divorce among Couples in Ibadan Nigeria

The rate at which many marriages crash in Nigeria nowadays calls for serious attention. The effect of divorce on the couples concerned, their children and relatives is better imagined than experienced. This study therefore investigated the predictive potentials of infertility, socio-economic status, religious factor, premarital-cohabitation, sexual intimacy, age at marriage and in-law factor on divorce among couples in Ibadan. Two hundred and fifty divorcees responded to standardized instruments used to collect data. Seven hypotheses and one research question guided the study. Results showed that all the variables correlated positively with the criterion variable (divorce), and the research question revealed that the independent variables jointly contributed a total of 92.9% of the total variance for incidence of divorce. Recommendations were made to reduce the menace of divorce in Nigerian society.

Family life events in the first year of acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy: a children's oncology group report.

Despite higher cure rates, childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) may continue to result in considerable family strain. We sought to (i) measure incidence of divorce, reduced career opportunities, changes to work hours, home relocation, and changes to family planning at one year after ALL diagnosis; and (ii) Identify family and patient factors associated with these events. We conducted a prospective cohort study of 159 children with average risk-ALL enrolled and treated on COG protocol AALL0331 at 31 selected sites. Eligibility criteria included age ≥2 years and English or Spanish comprehension. Parents completed surveys at three time points during the first 12 months of therapy. Parents were at significantly increased risk of loss of employment (46% vs. 9.1%, P ≤ 0.001) than peers nationally. 13% divorced/separated, 27% relocated homes, 22% decided not to have more children, 51% declined occupational opportunities, and 68% decreased work hours. In adjusted analyses, relocation correlated with less maternal education (OR: 4.27 [95% CI: 1.43-12.82]). Declining parental opportunities associated with family income <$50,000 (OR: 4.25 [95% CI: 1.50-12.02]) and child <5 years old (OR: 4.21 [95% CI: 1.73-10.25]). Deciding not to have more children correlated with smaller family size 2-3 versus 4-5 (OR: 3.62 [95% CI: 1.10-11.96]). Families experience a high incidence of major life changes in the first year of ALL treatment. Understanding these burdens helps health care providers to provide appropriate anticipatory guidance and support. No unifying factor was associated with the different family events. Ongoing follow-up is planned to measure long-term outcomes.

133. Relationships between hair cortisol and marital status in female veterans

Hair cortisol is thought to represent long-term activation of the HPA axis. An increasing body of research has used hair cortisol in research on disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder, and depression, as well as in individuals who are unemployed or working night shift. This research examined a sample of 52 female veterans, collecting demographic information such as marital and employment status, as well as psychosocial factors such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, and pain. The mean hair cortisol level was 27.46 pg/mg. Results include a significantly lower hair cortisol in single women veterans compared to veterans who were married currently or at some point in time (t = −2.734, p = .009). In addition, married women had lower plasma IFN-gamma levels (t = 2.61 p = .013). Finally, single women were shown to drink less alcohol than married veterans (t = 2.01, p = .05). Current analysis suggests a trend in lower hair cortisol in women with higher PTSD scores. In the military, there is a high incidence of divorce and marriage difficulties. With these difficulties there may be an increase in chronic stress and alterations in the HPA axis and immunity.

’Til recession do us part: booms, busts and divorce in the United States

A general hypothesis regarding the impact of permanent income levels and business cycle fluctuations on divorce rate at the state level in the United States is analysed in this article. Based on the data for 45 states over the sample period of 1978–2009, it is shown that the higher the level of transitory income, the higher the incidence of divorce. In other words, divorce is pro-cyclical.

Important sociocultural aspects of diabetes mellitus in Qatar: A rapidly developing Arab gulf state

Socio-cultural factors can profoundly influence diabetes control in diabetic patients. Qatar is an oil-rich country characterized by rapid urbanization. Excessive consumption of fast food, sedentary rich life style with totally air-conditioned housing, luxury cars, servants, and little outdoors activities and exercise due to hot weather most of the year have led to an epidemic of obesity and high prevalence of type 2 DM and negatively interfered with metabolic control. Increased incidence of divorce (around 40%) appears to be a risk factor for repeated diabetic keto-acidosis and poor control in children with type 1 DM. In addition, the high prevalence vitamin D deficiency and its possible depressive effect on insulin secretion may be associated with poor diabetes control.

Assortative Mating and Divorce: Evidence from Austrian Register Data

SummaryWe show that changes in assortative mating patterns along the dimensions of age, ethnicity, religion and education are not responsible for the increasing marital instability over the last four decades in Austria. Without the rise in the age at marriage, divorce rates would be considerably higher. Immigration and secularization, and the resulting supply of spouses with diverse ethnicity and religious denominations had no overall effect on divorce rates. Countervailing effects—in line with theoretical predictions–offset each other. The rise in the incidence of divorce is most probably caused by increased social acceptance of divorce.

Explaining the Divorce Phenomenon among Indigenes of the Ilorin Emirate in Kwara State, Nigeria

The family institution, which is the basic foundation of every society, is being threatened by high rate of divorce globally. The literature and popular media are replete with statistics about the rise in the rate of divorce and the decreasing stability of the nuclear family. It is believed that this situation often results into an unstable society and even destroys its form and moral standards. Consequently the adolescents who are raised in such broken homes are more likely to drop out of school, to use drug, to have teen births, to have illegitimate children and to be poorer than their counterparts whose natal home is intact. It is therefore germane to ask the following questions: what are the factors responsible for the high incidence of divorce, and what are the effects of divorce on the society? The main trust of this paper is to x-ray the factors responsible for high incidence of divorce in the context of feminist theory, the individualism dual income paradigm and to know the effect of divorce on the children, the couples involved and the society at large. In line with these objectives, the paper relies on secondary material and primary data obtained through questionnaire in order to assess the phenomenon of divorce in Ilorin Emirate. The study reveals that the main factors associated with divorce in the Emirate are financial problems, barrenness and irresponsibility. The paper concludes with some suggestions on the ways to minimize or reduce the divorce rate in Ilorin in particular and human societies in general.

Effect of childhood age in foster care on the incidence of divorce in adulthood.

This retrospective study examines the long-term effect of the age at which British children were fostered in World War II on their divorce rate. A total of 859 respondents, aged 62 to 72 years, were recruited who had childhood homes in the county of Kent in southeast England during the war. Of these, 770 had been evacuated and fostered, and the remainder stayed at home. Reflecting the wartime concerns of Bowlby, Miller, and Winnicott (1939) regarding the wisdom of separating young children from their parents for a potentially long period, male and female respondents evacuated between the ages of 4 to 6 years had a significantly higher incidence of divorce compared with those in the 13- to 15-year age group. This association was found to be mediated by attachment style in which the fearful category was predominant. The relevance of these results in the broader developmental context, and to family counseling, are briefly discussed.

Is Poland really 'immune' to the spread of cohabitation?

Abstract Various data have constantly pointed out a low incidence of non-marital unions in Poland (at 1.4-4.9% among all unions). In this paper we demonstrate that these data, coming exclusively from cross-sectional surveys, clearly underestimate the scale of the phenomenon. By exploiting data on partnership histories we show that young Poles have increasingly opted for cohabitation. Consequently, in the years 2004-2006, entries to cohabitation constituted about one third of all first union entries. Consensual unions have traditionally been seen as being more widespread among the lower social strata, but a clear increase in cohabitation has also been recently observed among groups with higher levels of educational attainment. Although the estimates of cohabitation incidence are far below those observed in Northern and Western Europe, our study suggests that Poland is not as 'immune' to the spread of consensual unions as it is commonly believed. 1. Introduction The literature claims that patterns of family formation in Poland are relatively traditional (Sobotka 2008, Sobotka and Toulemon 2008). Indeed, marriages in Poland are still contracted at relatively young ages, the incidence of divorce is low and out-ofwedlock births remain relatively uncommon (Hantrais 2005, Kotowska et al. 2008), despite observed trends toward delayed and deinstitutionalised family formation. Poles are strongly attached to the ideal form of a marital union with children (Pongracz and Speder 2008), and express the most strongly negative attitudes towards changes in family formation patterns in the CEE (Stankuniene and Maslauskaite 2008). Consistent with this view that traditional ideals about patterns of family formation persist in Poland, various data sources have constantly shown a low incidence of nonmarital cohabitation for that country; according to the National Population Census informal unions made up a mere 1.3% of all unions in 1988, 1.7% in 1995 and 2.2% in 2002 (Slany 2002, Fihel 2005). The Population Policy Acceptance Study as of 2001 gives an estimate of 1.4% (Kotowska et al. 2003) and the European Social Survey (2006) yields a value of 4.5%2. Half of the consensual unions are formed by never married (CSO 2003) while the proportions of cohabitants among young persons (aged 29 or less) are only slightly higher3 and fall well below what is found for many Northern and Western European countries (excluding the Mediterranean countries) (Andersson and Philipov 2002). In these parts of Europe cohabitation had already outdistanced direct marriage as the normative choice for a first union by the late 1980s. Similar finding has been established recently for Bulgaria, Russia and Hungary (Hoem et al. forthcoming) as well as for the Czech Republic (Sobotka et al. 2008). The focus of this paper is on first unions in Poland with a special emphasis on nonmarital cohabitation. We demonstrate that the cross-sectional data used so far for assessing the incidence of consensual unions in Poland clearly underestimate the scale of this phenomenon. Taking advantage of retrospective data collected in 2006, covering women's full partnership histories, we show that young Polish women increasingly choose to cohabit before entering a marriage. Although consensual unions in Poland are still relatively rare by European standards, it is evident from our analysis that cohabitation has been spreading recently across all social strata. 2. Formation of non-marital unions in Europe: a brief overview of the developments Informal unions are not a new phenomenon in post World War II Europe. Before the 1970s, however, they were largely statistically invisible. They were practised in some marginal sections of the society, i.e. among the poor who could not afford the marriage ceremony (Trost 1978, Villeneuve-Gokalp 1991), the separated who were legally not entitled to remarry (Haskey 2001), or surviving spouses who did not want to lose their pensions (Nazio and Blossfeld 2003). …

Rising marital disruption in Italy and its correlates

Most of our knowledge on divorce pertains to the USA and northern Europe, while demographic studies from southern Europe are relatively scarce. Our study looks at this knowledge gap through an analysis of the correlates of marital instability in Italy.

Marriage and Other Risky Assets: A Portfolio Approach

We study the joint impact of gender and marital status on financial decisions. First, we test the hypothesis that marriage represents - in a portfolio framework - a sort of safe asset, and that this effect is stronger for women. Controlling for a number of observable characteristics, we show that single women have a lower propensity to invest in risky assets than married females and males. Second, we show that the differential behavior of single women evolves over time, reflecting the increasing incidence of divorce and the expansion of female labor market participation. In particular, towards the end of our sample period, we observe a reduction in the gap between women with different family status, which can be attributed to the gradual erosion of the perception of marriage as a sort of safe asset. Our results therefore suggest that the differential behavior of single vs. married women can be explained by the evolution of gender roles in society, even after controlling for differential risk attitudes. Our empirical investigation is based on a dataset drawn from the 1989-2006 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth.

Happiness, health and family type

At the individual level, income is not the only and important factor that explains happiness. It can be concluded from several cross-section studies that- after controlling for inter correlations - health, marital status, ethnicity, presence of young children and religious affiliation are relevant too. Despite a secular rise in real income in the richer part of the world, happiness has not increased. Two factors that may account for this - health and family type - are discussed in this paper. Special attention is paid to the impact of obesity and the growing incidence of divorce and separation.

Heterogeneous human capital, uncertainty, and the structure of plans: A market process approach to marriage and divorce

The family has not been exempt from the multiple and rapidly occurring changes in the world today, particularly in market economies. The number of marriages has declined, age at first marriage has risen, the number of divorces has risen sharply, the fertility rate has declined, and the division of labor within families has changed, not always in ways that might be expected. This paper subjects these developments to a market process analysis, drawing on the voluminous work occurring in family economics. The Austrian theory of capital, with its emphasis on capital heterogeneity, is relevant. We place particular emphasis on the importance of the structure of human capital within marriage and how investments in such human capital have been affected by the uncertainty that these changes have produced. We also examine investments in marriage-specific human capital and in general human capital (particularly as they relate to childcare). This is then related to the incidence of divorce and the causes and spoils from divorce. The advent of no-fault divorce seems to have been seminal in this regard. We end with a brief glance at the future. KeywordsCapital heterogeneity . No-faultdivorce . Marriage . Marriage-specific humancapital . Market process . Plandisequilibrium . Covenant marriage JEL codesD10 . D13 . D80 . J22 . J24 . K19

The effects of marriage partners' socio-economic positions on the risk of divorce in Finland

The high and increasing incidence of divorce, with the various consequences for adults and children, has aroused interest among social scientists in understanding the contributory factors. Prominent economic and psychosocial theories suggest that the husband’s social and economic resources tend to stabilize a marriage, whereas the wife’s economic success tends to destabilize it (the gendered hypothesis). Register-based follow-up data from Statistics Finland on first marriages in Finland that were intact at the end of 1990 and divorces in 199193 (n=21,309), and Poisson regression were used to analyze the impact of the socio-economic positions of the spouses on the risk of divorce. This thesis consists of three articles published in international refereed journals, and a summary article. The aim of sub-study I was to disentangle the influences of various aspects of the spouses’ socio-economic positions on divorce risk and to reveal the causal pathways through which each socio-economic factor was related to it. Sub-study II investigated the joint effects of both spouses’ socio-economic positions. Finally, sub-study III explored the possibility that the effect of spouses’ socio-economic positions on divorce risk might vary according to the duration of the marriage. When examined individually, divorce risk was inversely associated with socio-economic status for all its various indicators (i.e. each spouse’s education, occupational class, economic activity, and income, as well as housing tenure and housing density) except the wife’s income. All of these factors had an independent effect. The independent effect was weak for both spouses’ occupational rankings and housing density, however, and it was positive for the wife’s income. The divorce risk for couples with both partners at the lowest educational level was lower than expected on the basis of its overall inverse association with each spouse’s education. Employed and homemaker women with employed husbands had comparatively stable marriages, whereas couples in which the husband, the wife, or both partners were unemployed had an elevated risk of divorce. The husband’s high income decreased the risk, and the wife’s high income increased it regardless of the level of the other spouse’s income, but the divorce-promoting effect of the wife’s high income was especially strong when the husband’s income was low. The comparatively high divorce risks for spouses with little formal education and those in manual-worker occupations were found to be specific to marriages of relatively short duration. In contrast, factors such as unemployment, the wife’s high income, and living in a rented dwelling were found to increase the risk regardless of marital duration. Overall, the socio-economic resources of the spouses, irrespective of which spouse had contributed them, decreased the risk of divorce, supporting the gender-neutral hypothesis. However, some aspects of the wife’s resources (absolute and relative to those of her husband) tended to increase the risk. The finding that the less structural socio-economic factors affected divorce risk in a very similar way in marriages of varying duration highlights their importance as factors predicting marital stability.

CULTURE, DIVORCE, AND FAMILY MEDIATION IN HONG KONG

Over the past three decades, Hong Kong has witnessed unprecedented economic prosperity, a decrease in family solidarity, an increase in social problems, and a dramatic rise in the incidence of divorce. Under colonial rule for 150 years, which ended with the return of sovereignty to China in 1997, the identity of the Hong Kong Chinese is a combination of traditional Chinese and modern Western culture. Despite Western influences, Chinese cultural heritage remains the major source of influence in all aspects of life. This article presents a summary of traditional Chinese culture, characteristics of contemporary Hong Kong society, factors believed to influence the high divorce rate, and the impact of divorce on Hong Kong families. The development, use, acceptability, and effectiveness of mediation in Hong Kong is reviewed, and suggestions for adapting it to Chinese families are proposed. Direction for future development of mediation in Hong Kong focuses on the need for further research to develop a scientifically sound knowledge base that will help to inform culturally competent mediation practice.

Do Long Work Hours Contribute to Divorce?

Abstract Despite frequent claims in the popular press that Americans are working longer hours to the detriment of their families, little academic research has directly tested this proposition. I provide new descriptive evidence on the link between work hours of married couples and the likelihood that a couple will get divorced. Using samples of working couples from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, I uncover several key facts: First, the incidence of divorce is much greater when both spouses are working than when only one spouse is employed. Second, the work hours of women are more highly correlated with divorce than are the work hours of men. Finally, despite these robust correlations, it is difficult to attribute a causal effect of work hours to divorce propensity.

Marital Instability in an African Society: Exploring the Factors That Influence Divorce Processes in Ghana

Much has been written about the sub-Saharan African family during the past the past three decades. For the most part, this literature deals with reproductive-related behavior and gender relations. Less explored is the issue of marital instability. Using national-level data, this study explores the factors influencing one indicator of instability, divorce in Ghana. The theoretical arguments draw on a number of institutional and noninstitutional factors that are believed to affect marital stability in sub-Saharan Africa. Our findings provide some empirical support for a structural determinist interpretation of divorce in Ghana. For instance, the incidence of divorce was higher among women from matrilineal (Akan) societies, and also among women who were urban residents. Regarding the respondents' background measures, we found that previous marital history, the duration of marriage, religion, and parity (children ever born) were strong predictors of divorce in Ghana. The implications of the study and specific suggestions for further research are proposed.

Is Making Divorce Easier Bad for Children? The Long‐Run Implications of Unilateral Divorce

I assess the long‐run implications for children of growing up in a unilateral divorce environment, which increases the ease of divorce by not requiring the explicit consent of both partners. Using 40 years of census data to exploit the variation across states and over time in changes in divorce regulation, I confirm that unilateral divorce regulations do significantly increase the incidence of divorce. Adults who were exposed to unilateral divorce regulations as children are less well educated, have lower family incomes, marry earlier but separate more often, and have higher odds of adult suicide.

Mate fidelity and breeding site tenacity in a monogamous sandpiper, the black turnstone

We examined the relationship between mate fidelity and breeding site tenacity during a 5-year study of the black turnstone, Arenaria melanocephala, a socially monogamous sandpiper breeding in subArctic Alaska. We tested the predictions of several hypotheses regarding the incidence of divorce and the benefits of fidelity to mate and breeding site. Interannual return rates to the breeding grounds (88% for males, 79% for females) were among the highest yet recorded for any scolopacid sandpiper, and 88% of returning birds nested on their previous year's territory. The annual divorce rate was only 11%, and mate fidelity was significantly linked to fidelity to territory but independent of sex and year. Males arrived in spring significantly earlier than their mates and interannual fidelity was influenced by the relative timing of arrival of pair members. Reunited pairs had significantly higher fledging success than new pairs formed after death or divorce. The incidence of divorce was unrelated to reproductive success the previous year, although birds nested significantly further away after failure than after a successful nesting attempt. Sightings of marked individuals suggested that members of pairs do not winter together, and breeding site tenacity provides a mechanism through which pair members can reunite. We reject the ‘incompatibility’ hypothesis for divorce in turnstones, and our data contradict predictions of the ‘better option’ hypothesis. Alternatively, we propose the ‘bet-hedging’ hypothesis to explain the occurrence of divorce, which transpires when an individual pairs with a new mate to avoid the cost of waiting for a previous mate to return. Such costs can include remaining unmated, if the former mate has died, or experiencing lower reproductive success because of delayed breeding.