Divorce and Culture Notes

Become increasingly easy to obtain, spousal support has become less common, efforts to increase child-support, and shared parental decision-making.

U.S. may have the highest divorce rate in the world – Divorce around the World

Divorce per 1,000 persons was 4.19, Divorce in Sweden (p.490), Divorce in China (p. 491)

High cohabitation rates and dissolution rates – may have the highest break up rate in the world

Low rates, Stability, Kinship structure and government policy

Divorce by agreement or application and mediation (only one party wants the divorce)

(Image courtesy of photostock/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

How divorce rates are calculated

Divorce rates and how they are calculated (number per 1,000 persons in the population, number of divorces per 1,000 married females 15 and over, or by ratio of divorces granted per year and marriages in the same year)

Differences depending on which method use

Using a longitudinal method is best

LIKLIHOOD OF DIVORCE

Associated with divorce

1. high sex ratio

2. late average age at marriage for women

3. level of socioeconomic development

4. female labor force participation rate

Increased over the past fifty years

THE SOCIETY and Social characteristics: social structural variables (increasing industrialization, urbanization, female labor force participation, decreasing fertility rate, changing gender-role norms, religious diversity, and legal diversity)

War (WWII)

Economic conditions: decline in times of economic depression and risen during time of prosperity

Economic depression  divorce rates drop at all class levels

Geographic Location

Homogeneous communities (Gemeinshaft) and primary, face-to-face interaction communities

Social integration hypothesis, Durkheim

Social controls and conformity

Poverty and distressed neighborhoods

AGE

Divorce is common among young couples

Decrease with age

Explanations: emotional immaturity, inability of assuming marital responsibilities, greater incidences of early marriage and low SES, more premarital pregnancies

LENGTH of Marriage

Largest number of divorce decrees are granted in 1-4 years after marriage

Declines with duration

2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th years seem to be the most common

1/3 had been married 1-4 years

¼ married 5-9 years

1/3 10+ years

Now college education is found to reduce the risk of divorce (second decade of divorce)  too much to lose from divorce

UNLESS woman gets educated later

Childbearing prior to remarriage increases the risk

Remarriages might be composed of people who have problems that make a stable marriage difficult

Race, Religion, and Socioeconomic Status

First marriage disruption after 10-20 years: Blacks, then Hispanics, then non-Hispanic whites, and lowest for Asians (IS POVERTY MORE OF THE ISSUE?)

Urban residence, mobility patterns, and social-class differences

Religion: moderately high for Protestants than Catholics, and lower for Jews

Highest – those with no religion

Socioeconomic statuses of certain religions

WOMEN

Women are the initiators of divorce

Men want a divorce first; women ask for it first

Professional women – more likely to never have married and more likely to divorce if they had married, less likely to remarry if they divorce

Wives employment and marriage

Institutional supports for unmarried mothers

Less likely to adopt traditional gender roles

Exposure to spousal alternatives

Greater marital instability and higher divorce rates in the lower classes

Divorce runs in families and among friends

Traditional attitudes

Wives’ traditional attitudes are associated with lower odds

Husbands’ traditional attitudes with higher odds

Legal and Social Grounds for Divorce

“No-fault” divorce: breakdown of marriage, incompatibility, cruelty, and desertion

Adultery – in all states

Other legal grounds: nonsupport, alcoholism or drug addiction, felony conviction or imprisonment, impotence, insanity, mental or physical cruelty, abandonment, fraud, force or duress, and bigamy

No-fault – consent of both spouses is not required; gender neutral – both spouses are responsible for alimony and child support; both spouses eligible for child custody

Child support and property distribution – linked to financial needs and resources

SHOULD DIVORCE BE MORE DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN?

RECONCILIATION IS MORE LIKELY WHEN (exchange theory)

1. costs of divorce are high

2. barriers to getting out of the marriage are great

3. alternatives are few

CONSIDERATIONS IN DECIDING WHETHER TO REMAIN MARRIED

1. satisfaction with or attraction of the marriage (fulfillment, bonding, need)

2. barriers to getting out of the marriage (law, children suffering, religious beliefs)

3. the attractiveness of alternatives to the marriage (evaluating personal assets; self-esteem)

4. intensity of emotional pain generated by an unhappy marriage

ALTERNATIVES TO DIVORCE

Marriage counseling

Marriage enrichment programs

PREP (Prevention and Relationships Enhancement Program)

Teach partners skills and ground rules for handling conflict and promoting intimacy

Separation

Why Marriage Counseling Sometimes Does Not Succeed 

The Process of Uncoupling

Recognition

Discussion

Action

Postdissolution

Impact of Children on Parental Divorce

Preschool children keep parents together

Older children and children born before marriage increase the chances

Children may delay but not prevent divorce

Make divorce more costly

Older children articulate they feelings more

Consequences of Divorce ON ADULTS

Better adjustment for the younger than older individuals

Anger, insecurity, depression, well-being, autonomy

More likely to be positive for females with high level of education and those with nontraditional gender and marital role

Health problems: physical and emotional health (suicide and social integration; alcoholism, stress; approximately 2-4 years to work through it)

Economic consequences

Situation improves for men and declines for women

Changes in the standard of living

Men – 42% improvement

Women – 73% loss

Women get sole custody

His and Her divorce

Routes to economic recovery for women and mothers

Increase in earnings – enter the paid labor force or increasing work hours

Obtaining or increasing child support

Remarriage or cohabitation

ADULT ADJUSTMENTS AFTER DIVORCE depend on

Emotional trauma (shock and crisis; more trauma if one wants it and the other doesn’t; decline in psychological adjustment; failure)

Societal Attitudes toward Divorce (attitudes received from others)

Loneliness and Social Readjustment (realize what it is like; social networks; adjustment is better if in an intimate relationship

Consequences of Divorce for Children

One million children each year

Blame selves, insecurity, assume more responsibility, difficult time developing good relationships with their siblings, behavioral problems

More problems when custodial parent begins to date

Interaction Between Former Spouses

Type and quality of the interaction

Affects the children

Only 38% consider themselves “cooperative colleagues”

Diminishing of economic and social resources – educational attainment, marital timing, marital probability, and divorce probability

2000 Census – 70% receive a portion of the child support money

RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

More harmful effects for older children: less likely to graduate from high school, tend to marry at an earlier age, have lower probability of ever marrying, and have a higher probability of getting divorced

Adolescents: commit delinquent acts, experience problems in peer relations, and running away and truancy

BOYS: more problematic behavior; aggressive; lack of same sex parent

Study: (National Longitudinal data)

Parent-child relationships before and after parental divorce

Parents report escalating problems in their relationships with their children as early as 8-12 years before the divorce (marital problems = problems with children – behavioral)

Eroded affection between fathers and children

About 2 years following disruption have been described as “crisis period”

Changes in day to day lives

Study: parents (Wallerstein, 1998; 25 year study)

50% of women and 1/3 of men were still angry with former spouse 10 years later

Colored relationship with their children

DO NOT TALK BAD ABOUT THE OTHER PARENT

Adult Children

Lower marital quality and stability

More frequent divorce

Poorer relationships with parents

Socioeconomic well being

Low educational attainment, income, and occupational prestige

Physical health

Adjust better if had contact with noncustodial parent

REVIEW OF 92 STUDIES (Paul Amato and Bruce Keith)

Less likely to graduate from high school (poor school performance)

More likely to have lower earnings

More likely to become dependent on welfare

More likely to marry at an early age

Lack of role modeling

More likely to divorce in their own marriages

DAUGHTERS: have a child out of wedlock and be divorced themselves

SONS: behavioral symptoms

Children:

More academic, psychological, and behavioral problems

DIVORCE MAKES SENSE

Being in high conflict environments – worse off

Divorce may be a better choice

Child Custody

Mothers with children and absent father – high poverty rate

Joint custody – at least 30% of the time with each of the parents

Most ideal in terms of the child-parent relationship

Higher satisfaction – parents

Fewer emotional and behavioral problems

Fathers more compliant with child support and more involved

Custodial Fathers and Mothers

1:7 fathers (white, older, and more educated)

Mothers 86% of the cases – poverty

Split Custody

Separation of siblings so that each parent has at least one child

Arguments against: depriving children of sibling support, unhealthy alliances, further disruption,

Different if it was the children’s wishes

Child Support and Remarriage as Economic Factors

Mothers who receive child support and above average amounts were less likely to remarry within five or more years

REMARRIAGE AND STEPFAMILIES

Remarry for the same reasons married the first time

Remarry: older, more mature, and have children

People Who Remarry

Gender: males more likely

Race and ethnicity: white, then black, then Hispanic

Age: for those who married at a young age and were under thirty when divorced

Children: no children or small number of children

Education: more likely for a woman not in the labor force

Income: more likely for men with higher incomes and women with lower incomes

High status women have less to gain from remarriage (Ambert)

Marriage among the Remarried

Probability for disruption is higher than first marriages

Study (Booth and Edwards) why remarriages were more unstable: more likely to be poorly integrated with patens and in-laws, more willing to leave the marriage, more likely to be poor marriage material, have lower SES status, and more likely to be age-heterogamous marriages

Children have a destabilizing effect

Bringing stepchildren into a second marriage appears to weaken the marital unit

SUCESSFUL REMARRIAGES 

Remarried Couples with Stepchildren: Reconstituted Families

Earlier the courtship for remarriage was introduced after the divorce the less disruption

Boundary Ambiguity: the uncertainty of family members as to who is part of the family and performs, or is responsible for, certain roles and responsibilities

ROLES ARE ILL-DEFINED: state laws give almost no recognition

STEPPARENT: rejected by older children

Stepmother is easier – usually do not live with them

Expectation of stepmothers – step right in and love the children as their own

Not so for stepfathers

More responsibilities and child care for stepmothers

NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES: fairytales and folklore (cruel stepmother)

Step-fathers: engage in less play, private talks, and projects with children than biological fathers

Less support, control, and punishment from stepfathers than biological fathers

RELATIONSHIPS WITH EX-SPOUSES

Child Well-Being in Stepfamilies

Less well adjusted

Exhibit more behavioral and emotional problems

Poorer academic achievement

Lower social competence and social responsibility

GIRLS: higher risk for teenage childbearing, dropping out of school, and leaving home at an earlier age

High incidence of sexual abuse

BOYS: running away or dropping out of school

ALL: problems with family relationships as adults

YOUNGER the child the easier the transition and attachment

Less positive relationships with older than younger children

NUMBER OF TRANSITIONS (moving, new school, new sibling)

MARITAL QUALITY

CHANGE IN PARENTING STYLES

Complex stepfamilies: children from both parents

Greater dissatisfaction and stress

Many complications

BLENDED FAMILY: Stress and conflict

BONDING WITH STEPPARENTS

Nonseekers of affinity

Affinity seekers

Continuous affinity seekers

Affinity: intentional actions by people who are trying to get other people to like them or feel positive toward them

Nonseekers: not trying to win child’s affection

Early seekers: try to bond during the dating stages

CONTINUOUS AFFINITY SEEKERS: strongest bonds

DISCIPLINARIAN PERSONALITY

STEPSIBLING RELATIONSHIPS

Parents responsible for their relationship and the transition

Birth of a new baby – might bond them

Related Posts

• 

  Global Stratification Assignment Guide
  Global Stratification Assignment Guide
• 

  Vitual Environments Assignment Guide
  Vitual Environments Assignment Guide
• 

  Cultural Relativism Assignment Guide
  Cultural Relativism Assignment Guide
• 

  Diversity Training Assignment Guide
  Diversity Training Assignment Guide