Union Disruption Research Articles

Union Disruption in Canada

:This article examines the trends and determinants of union dissolution in Canada using data from the 1995 Canadian General Social Survey, looking at the aggregate trends in Canadian unions and exploring the transition from cohabitation to either marriage or separation. A life-course perspective is used to assess both marital and nonmarital union stability. Both marital and nonmarital unions are combined and various determinants of their dissolution are considered.

Union Disruption in the United States

:This article presents the results of a longitudinal analysis of a large, nationally representative U.S. dataset. Based on the theoretical considerations outlined, it examines how a range of social and demographic factors are associated with marital disruption, that is, divorce or separation.

Till Discord Do Us Part: The Role of Physical and Verbal Conflict in Union Disruption

The focus of this study was the extent to which physical aggression and, to a lesser extent, verbal conflict predict relationship dissolution in a national sample. Data were from a 5‐ to 7‐year follow‐up of 3,508 married and cohabiting couples in the National Survey of Families and Households. Controlling for demographic factors and verbal conflict, male violence significantly elevated the risk of disruption between waves. Female violence was not a predictor of disruption. Much of the effect of male violence was accounted for by its association with reduced relationship quality. The impact of male violence did not appear to differ according to the female partner's socioeconomic resources or whether couples were in formal or informal unions.

Migration and Union Dissolution among Puerto Rican Women

This study examines the relationship between migration and union dissolution among Puerto Ricans, a Latino subgroup characterized by recurrent migration between Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland. Based on pooled life-history data from comparable surveys undertaken in Puerto Rico and the United States, we find that: 1) Puerto Rican women who have lived on the U.S. mainland have markedly higher rates of union disruption than those with no U.S. experience; and 2) even net of a wide variety of possible explanatory factors, the relatively high rates of union instability among first and second generation U.S. residents and return migrants are strongly related to recent and lifetime migration experience. The results suggest that the weak social ties of migrants provide limited social support for their unions and few barriers to union disruption.

Migration and Union Dissolution among Puerto Rican Women

The aim was to examine the impact of migration on family formation and dissolution among mainland Puerto Ricans at the individual level. Aggregate data have shown significant effects of residential mobility and migration on divorce but operational mechanisms have not been identified. Data for this study were obtained from pooled life history data on Puerto Rican women aged 15-49 years in the US and Puerto Rico available from the 1982 Puerto Rican Fertility and Family Planning Assessment and the 1985 New York Fertility Employment and Migration Survey. Retrospective event histories provided data on cohabitation marriage fertility education employment and migration. Migration is taken to be time varying: nonmigrants return migrants first generation US migrants second generation US residents and US-born return migrants. Union dissolution behavior is analyzed for each status group in multivariate models. The assumption was that differences among status groups in divorce may be due to factors other than migration. Religion number of siblings and mothers age at first birth were included as background variables. Other factors at the start of the union were womans age preunion births union type education and employment experience. Time varying respondent attributes were union type employment and number and ages of children born within the union. The results support prior individual level theories. Puerto Rican women who had early union formation were pregnant at the start of coresidence and had a preunion birth were more likely to have disruption. Employment was also a contributing factor if the woman did not work prior to union formation. Social integration and support also affected union stability. Life tables showed that nonmigrants had the lowest proportion experiencing disruption and disruption rose with exposure to the US. Logistic regressions confirmed the differences between migrants and nonmigrants. The rate of disruption was 50% lower among women who entered legal marriage and the presence of young children <6 years reduced the likelihood of union disruption. The rate of disruption was 57% more likely among women who migrated during the previous year and particularly high among recent migrants in informal unions.

Female Employment and First Union Dissolution in Puerto Rico

We examine the impact of employment histories on union dissolution in Puerto Rico for two groups of women: all women either married or living with a partner consensually and women who did not cohabit before legal marriage. Results using discrete-time proportional hazards models indicate that: (a) transitions in female employment status within a union increase the risk of union disruption; (b) transitions in female employment status relative to union inception increase the risk of union dissolution but this effect disappears when employment transitions within the union are controlled for; (c) working in jobs that pay a wage or salary increases union disruption as compared to women who do not work and women who work in more home-oriented occupations; and (d) working in types of occupations that are conducive to home-oriented roles does not affect the likelihood of union disruption. (EXCERPT)

‘Weeding’ in the Netherlands: First-Union Disruption among Men and Women Born Between 1928 and 1965

This is a study of the effect of pre-marital cohabitation on marital stability in the Netherlands on the basis of life course data collected in 1984. According to the ‘weeding’ hypothesis, husband and wife who have first tested their relationship successfully in a consensual union should be better equipped to deal with the build-up of possible tensions. The focus of comparison in the present study is on Sweden. By way of introduction some theoretical notions on life course research in general are first put forward. The empirical analysis itself is divided into two parts. In Part One a semi-parametric approach to the Dutch data seems to confirm the contradictory pattern found for Sweden, namely that marital partners who have lived together pre-maritally are subject to first union disruption risks that are not any lower than those for marital partners who did not go through such a preparatory phase. In Part Two, however, results from a stratified, fully parametric model seem to call the validity of these findings into question. Evidence from a (log)logistic specification of first union disruption risks in the Netherlands points clearly in the direction of strong ‘weeding’ effects.