The United States shows striking racial and ethnic differences in marriage patterns. Compared to both white and Hispanic women, black women marry later in life, are less likely to marry at all, and have higher rates of marital instability. Kelly Raley, Megan Sweeney, and Danielle Wondra begin by reviewing common explanations for these differences,…

Economic restructuring in rural areas in recent decades has been accompanied by rising marital instability. To examine the implications of the increase in divorce for the health of rural women, we examine how marital status predicts adequacy of health insurance coverage and health care access, and whether these factors help to account for the…

The authors used data from the Add Health study to estimate the effects of parents' marital status and relationship distress on daughters' early family formation transitions. Outcomes included traditional transitions (marriage and marital births) and nontraditional transitions (cohabitation and nonmarital births). Relationship distress among…

Estimates the effects of welfare on marital dissolution and remarriage. Data from females indicated that those who received AFDC, food stamps, or other public assistance dissolved their marriages more frequently than those not receiving welfare. The relationship between welfare and marital dissolution decreased somewhat as duration of marriage…

We draw on three waves of the Fragile Families Study (N = 2,249) to examine family stability among a recent birth cohort of children. We find that children born to cohabiting versus married parents have over five times the risk of experiencing their parents' separation. This difference in union stability is greatest for White children, as compared…

The hypothetical constructs of attraction and barrier forces, as well as contrasting alternative attractions are used to organize the research literature on the determinants of marital stability and dissolution. (Author/AM)

Data from seven recent American national surveys found that persons remarried after divorce had rather high levels of reported well-being, but never-remarried women reported lower aggregate marital happiness than never-divorced married women or never-remarried men; the difference was not explained by race, age, or socioeconomic variables.…

The Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey (GZTS) has been described as one of the most widely used tests in marriage counseling. The GZTS was administered to 61 couples when they entered marriage counseling between 1980 and 1985. When counseling ended, couples were divided into three groups--married and together after counseling (MT); married but…

Investigates the differential adjustment of men and women during the process of marital separation. Prior to separation, women reported significantly more severe psychological symptoms. During the early postseparation period, men reported significantly more severe symptoms. A brief self-report measure of psychopathology is described. (Author)

Among women divorcing before age 25, being childless increased the likelihood of remarriage; among women divorcing at 35 or older, having no children decreased it. For women divorcing at age 25 to 34, there was no effect. (Author)

Men and women were randomly chosen from courthouse divorce files. After initial contact by mail and by phone, those who agreed were mailed questionnaires developed to assess adjustment to divorce and to obtain information about the nature of divorce. Of those sent questionnaires, 44% completed and returned the assessment; the total sample…

Notes that except for black males, a greater transmission effect is found among respondents from childhood homes disrupted by divorce or separation rather than by death. Also suggests that the role model rationale for the transmission of marital instability be elaborated upon. (Author/AM)

The marital histories of 203 young women who became premaritally pregnant in their early teens and 90 of their classmates most of whom married before pregnancy show that disruption in the courtship process and limited economic resources are the most important factors in marital dissolution. (Author/AM)

Factors that predicted breakups before marriage, investigated as part of a two-year study of dating relationships among college students include unequal involvement in the relationship and discrepant age, educational aspirations, intelligence, and physical attractiveness. (Author/AM)

Life satisfaction, trust, optimism, and political conservatism differentiated remarried, married, divorced and never-married groups. Divorced people were less satisfied with life, more liberal, and less optimistic. Background factors that were related to divorce included parental divorce, hometown, family income, and church attendance. (Author)