Divorce Statistics and Studies Blog

Australian survey of divorce rates differing by education, age, smoking, children, but not alcohol

This story, which came via the Smart Marriages listserv, actually surveys a whole bunch of variables correlating with divorce rates, despite the headline.

ACADEMIC DIVIDE LINKED TO DIVORCE

Patricia Karvelas, Political correspondent | November 05, 2008
The Australian

WOMEN with tertiary educations who choose as a partner men who have not
finished high school are 10 times more likely to separate or get divorced
than women whose education is less than or equal to their partner's.

The finding is contained in a new study by researchers at the Australian
National University commissioned by the federal Government, which looks at
the factors behind the break-up of Australian families with children.

The project used Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey
data to investigate the factors that preceded the end of relationships.

The research, conducted by ANU's Centre for Mental Health Research and the
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, considered whether
mental health problems, hazardous levels of alcohol consumption and smoking
were associated with divorce or separation. It found that education was a
key factor in relationship stability.

"Compared to couples in which partners had similar levels of educational
qualifications, those couples in which women reported tertiary
qualifications and men reported not completing high school had a tenfold
greater risk of divorce/separation," it says.

"This may reflect two factors. Firstly, women's educational attainment may
be a proxy for financial independence and, thus, the opportunity for women
to support themselves outside of the marriage. This removes a potential
barrier to divorce or separation.

"Secondly, these couples may experience greater conflict or dissatisfaction
within the relationship, perhaps associated with the fact that they are not
fulfilling the traditional gendered roles within marriage."

The analysis found couples with the opposite pattern of educational
attainment -- where men had the tertiary qualifications and women did not
complete high school -- did not demonstrate an increased risk of subsequent
marital instability and, if anything, showed greater than average stability.

The lowest rate of separation was found among couples where both partners
reported tertiary qualifications.

The study also found there was no association between alcohol consumption
and relationship instability.

But couples in which women were smokers -- regardless of whether the male
partner smoked -- were at increased risk of divorce or separation.

"We consider that this reflects the effectiveness of women's smoking as a
marker of social and economic disadvantage and adversity," the report says.

The study found that marital stability was associated with the birth of a
child within marriage and older age at marriage, and that religion was
important in the couple's lives.

Study Links Genes in Men to Marital Bonding or to Cohabitation & Divorce

These are two stories in a series on Sept. 1 and 2, 2008:

Link: 'Bonding Gene' Could Help Men Stay Married - washingtonpost.com.

Link: Study Links Gene Variant in Men to Marital Discord - washingtonpost.com.

Married and Poor: Basic Characteristics of Economically Disadvantaged Couples in the U.S. - Working Paper

Married and Poor: Basic Characteristics of Economically Disadvantaged Couples in the U.S. - Working Paper.

This study is from mid-2004 but brings together definitively a lot of information about correlations and interactions of poverty and wealth, marriage, divorce, and unwed parenthood. It's by David J. Fein.

Major new stats on divorce demographics from Barna

The Barna Group, which has done major, highly respected studies in the past on the demographics of marriage, divorce and religion, released a major new survey March 31, based on interviews conducted in 2007.

Some of its findings:

25% of Americans over 18 have been divorced.
One-third of Americans who have ever married have divorced at least once. (Note: that's not the same as one-third of all marriages.)

The highest-divorce groups (per marriage):

downscale adults (39%) [i.e. income <$20,000, no college]
Baby Boomers (38%)
members of non-Christian faiths (38%)
self-described social and political liberals  (37%)
African-Americans (36%),

The least-divorced groups (per marriage):

Asians (20%)
upscale adults (22%) [i.e. income >$75,000, college grads]
evangelicals (26%),
Catholics (28%),  
self-described social and political conservatives (28%)

Groups with near-average divorce rates (per marriage):
Whites 32%
Hispanics 31%
Moderates 33%
born-agains 33% [apparently very distinct from evangelicals although there's considerable overlap. Barna specializes in polling distinctions of religious identity.]
atheisits and agnostics 30% [rate may be distorted by their lower marriage rate, which is 65% -- average is 78% and evangelicals are 84%]

Pre-Marital Education May Lower Divorce Rate - Divorce Lawyer Source

A study published in the Journal of Family Psychology, based on a random telephone survey of 3,344 adults in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, found that engaged couples who received pre-wedding education were 31 percent less likely to divorce.

Complete article, from June, 2006, at: Pre-Marital Education May Lower Divorce Rate

Working women divorce less

A story reported via the Smart Marriages listserv says that "The marriages of women who work outside the home are more likely to stay together than the marriages of those who don’t, according to new studies."

The story also says men are doing more housework, and it cites that as a possible reason for two-income families having less divorce. That's odd -- I thought that I had always heard that working women were still doing nearly all the housework. Here's the full story, which is based on the new boo, “Alone Together: How
Marriage in America Is Changing” --

Divorce after child dies

People often ask us about statistics on parents getting divorced after a child dies. Prof. Rick Froman of John Brown University in Arkansas sent me an article refuting the popular belief that divorce is more likely, or even inevitable, in that situation. Here are links to where you can download that article and others on the topic by the same authors.

Regular churchgoers have less divorce, less violence, worse divorces

Research by Bowling Green State University
professors Kenneth Pargament and Annette Mahoney, reported in an April 10, 2007 lecture by them and in a story in the Toledo Blade about the lecture, shows that regular churchgoers have significantly less divorce and far less domestic violence than other people. But when they get divorced, they react even  more poorly to it than other people do.

See the continuation for the full story, from Smart Marriages listserv posting "Community Marriage Policies | Church Study | Interracial Marriages - 4/15/07 '

Cohabitation, Marriage and Divorce: "Sliding Versus Deciding"

Here's a link to the official abstract of the landmark "Sliding Versus Deciding" study that examines exactly how cohabitation does and does not affect marital commitment levels and divorce rates, sorting out causation from correlation. The abstract also has links to the full article, although that access requires a subscription.
Link: Family Relations, Volume 55 Issue 4 Page 499 - October 2006 (Article Abstract).
Citation: Scott M. Stanley, Galena Kline Rhoades, Howard J. Markman (2006)    
        Sliding Versus Deciding: Inertia and the Premarital Cohabitation Effect*    
    Family Relations 55 (4), 499–509.

New Study: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Disruption

Abstract of Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Disruption across Time: New Results from the NSFH 3. By

Anna Cunningham, Ohio State University

Excerpt: "I find that the association between cohabitation and marital disruption has weakened across time among those that cohabited only with their partner. However, time has not reduced the likelihood of divorce among those that have experienced multiple cohabitations prior to first marriage."

Complete text of study