1. Adapted from Diversity in Families by Baca Zinn & Eitzen 7th ed. 2005
Divorce
Adapted from Diversity in Families by Baca Zinn & Eitzen 7th ed. 2005

2. 40%-52% of all 1st marriages divorce
Center for Disease Control and Prevention study (2001) Pg. 395 Zinn & Eitzen

3. Divorce Trends

4. Social & economic conditions
Rates increased since 1860
Declining since 1981
Social & economic conditions
Has increased after WWI & WWII
Decreased during depression
Increased in prosperous 1970s
Highest rate of any of the nine major industrial nations

5. Factors Correlated with Divorce

6. Cohort
Born during the same time period

7. Premarital Cohabitation
Tend to be younger
Less traditional marital expectations
More approving of divorce
Used to greater freedom in cohabitation relationship
Even higher divorce rates for cohabitators of divorced parents or if stepchildren

8. Age at first marriage
59% of marriages for women under 18 end in divorce w/in 15 yrs. (compared to 36% for 20 & older)
Lack maturity
Lack of experience in relationships
Restricted opportunities for college
Financial difficulties
Premarital pregnancy common reason for early marriage (enter for wrong reasons)

9. Circumstances of 1st birth
Premarital pregnancy & births
Does not give couple time to adapt to married life
Limits educational and career opportunities

10. Presence of children Couples w/ children less likely to divorce
divorce increases w/ more than 4
divorce lower w/ kids under age of 3, higher over age 13
Divorce higher for couples w/ only daughters

11. Income Poor are 2x more likely to divorce than not poor
Worse for African Americans

12. Race African Americans have highest divorce rate
Slavery myth. Happening only since last 50 years.
It is the poor in cities (jobs left the Rustbelt for the Sunbelt)
Latinos divorce rate similar to whites
share same economic disadvantage
new immigrants lower divorce rate than third generation (zinn & eitzen study pg. 403)

13. Religion
Divorce rates (24% of all adults have experienced at least 1 divorce during their lifetime)
Jews 30%
Baptist 29%
Born Again 27%
Mainline Protestant and Mormon 25%
Atheists, agnostics, Lutherans, Catholics 21%

14. Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce
Parental divorce approximately doubled the odds that offspring would experience divorce
Reasons
Children of divorce usually live w/ mom which means decline in standard of living
Experiencing parents divorce may lead to depression, anxiety, stress (maybe long term effects)
Parents as bad role model

15. Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce
Seems to be lessening
Declined by almost 50% in 25 years ending in 1996
Stigma reduced
no fault divorces reduced harmful divorces