chapter 13 Flashcards
how many marriages end in divorce
In the United States, there are currently half as many divorces as marriages each year (Anderson, 2016a), so the chance that a recent marriage will ultimately end in separation or divorce still hovers around 50 percent
the average length of a marriage in the United States is just over … years
18
the median age at which men encounter their (first) divorce is…
31.8, and for women, it’s 29.4
- trend: only about … of the adult U.S. population is presently married
half (49 percent)
2 trend?
6 percent of American children—1 out of every 4 people under the age of 18—now live in single-parent homes
single parent home .. time higher than 1965
3
Even our grandparents divorce more often than they used to
t people over 50 are less likely to divorce than younger adults are, but their rate of divorce has doubled over the last 25 years
global dif in divorce
all increasing but highest in US
Why Has the Divorce Rate Increased?
- dif expectations with more demands (not practical necessity)
- cultural changes
- gender roles
- more individualism
- perception of divorce less negative and easier laws
- cohabitation
- parental divorce
- friends divorcing
people are more likely than ever before to pursue marriage as a path to …
personal fulfillment
no sooner had the ideal of the … and …taken hold than people began to demand the right to divorce
love match
lifelong intimacy
The percentage of U.S. spouses who report that their marriages are “very happy” is lower now than it was 25 years ago why
t expectations
what cultural changes influence divorce
women working earning more money
the more hours a wife works during the week, the lower the quality of her marriage tends to be why
Car repairs, child care, and the scheduling and cooking of meals (to name just a few examples) are more problematic when both spouses are employed, and the amount of time spouses spend together tends to decline
Both spouses are also affected by their problems at work, so that decreases in job satisfaction are associated with increases in marital discord
increases CLalt
The more money she makes, the more likely it is that she will someday be divorced does being poor help than
couples with money troubles are less content with their marriages than are those who are better off and more likely to divorce
so what is the relationship between $ and divorce
Having money may make it easier to divorce, but being poor can cause stress that undermines a marriage, too.
why women making money= divorce?
increased conflict at home, made alluring, new romantic partners more available, and decreased wives’ economic dependence on their husbands
how are gender roles influencing divorce
Women are gradually becoming more assertive and self-reliant and dividing chores
effects of gender roles changes toward equality
less traditional gender roles and increases in the equality of family decision-making have been associated with higher marital quality for both husbands and wives
husbands are less happy now that they’re doing more housework, but their wives are much more content
how does increase individualism contribute to divorce
receive less social support and companionship from friends and acquaintances than our grandparents did (Talhelm & Oishi, 2014), and we rely on our spouses for more
receive less social support and companionship from friends and acquaintances than our grandparents did (Talhelm & Oishi, 2014), and we rely on our spouses for more 2 ways effects divorce
we ask more of our spouses than ever before
people who are less connected to their communities are less affected by community norms that might discourage them from divorcing.
people who move often from place to place really are more willing to cut ties with their friends and lovers (Gillath & Keefer, 2016) and are more prone to divorce why
don’t put down roots
… laws helped make the divorce procedure more socially acceptable
No-fault
favorable attitudes toward divorce influence divorce indirectly how
appear to reduce the quality of our marriages as time goes by
Casual cohabitation seems to lead to …3 that lead to more divorce
(a) less respect for the institution of marriage, (b) less favorable expectations about the outcomes of marriage, and (c) increased willingness to divorce
why parent divorce lead to child divorce 2
compared to children from intact homes, they have less faith that their marriages will last and relationship scripts
how much impact of friend divorce
Compared to the average participant in the study, those who had a friend or family member (that is, a parent, child, or sibling) who divorced were 75 percent more likely
If a friend of a friend or relative divorced, people were 33 percent more likely to divorce (last line of influence)
So, why has the divorce rate increased? 6
We expect more out of marriage, holding it to higher standards.
Working women have more financial freedom and better access to attractive alternatives, and they experience corrosive conflict between work and family.
Page 394Creeping individualism and social mobility leave us less tied to, and less affected by, community norms that might discourage divorce.
New laws have made divorce more socially acceptable and easier to obtain.
Casual cohabitation weakens commitment to marriage.
Children of divorce are more likely to divorce when they become adults.
More of us have friends who are divorced.
three elements that influence the breakup of relationships in Levinger’s Barrier Model
- attraction (rewards, costs)
- alternatives
- barriers (psychological and material)
2 barriers that predict divorce
dependence on one’s spouse and religious beliefs
2 barriers that predict divorce
dependence on one’s spouse and religious beliefs
those 2 barriers stop anyone from divorce
f And if people had grown genuinely dissatisfied with their marriages, even those two barriers seemed insignificant
Karney and Bradbury’s Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation Model highlights another three influences that can contribute to divorce
- enduring vulnerabilities
- adaptive processes
- stressful events
what are these adaptive processes
with which people respond to stress (e.g., Maisel & Karney, 2012). If a couple gets lucky and encounters only infrequent and mild difficulties, even those with poor coping and communication skills may live happily ever after.
some stress in marriage is inevitable
t in daily stressors or common ones like parenting or ones we experience individually
Our inborn traits and past experiences equip all of us with strengths and weaknesses as relationship partners, and some of the weaknesses are … that undermine our abilities to cope effectively with stress and change
“vulnerabilities”
in which we bring surly moods home and interact irascibly with our innocent partners :T
stress spillover
when it comes to stress, what doesn’t kill us may make us stronger.
t come out more resilient better skills
the quality of our marriages emerges from the interplay of …3 and, to some degree, these three important influences affect each other.
who we are, the circumstances we encounter, and the manner in which we respond to those circumstances,
Processes of Adaptation in Intimate Relationships (or PAIR) Project. how happy were people after 13 years
after only 13 years, 35 percent of the couples had divorced and another 20 percent weren’t happy; only 45 percent of the couples could be said to be happily married
why people less happy over marriage
- enduring dynamics model
- emergent distress model
- disillusionment model
T: One possibility is that spouses who are destined to be discontent begin their marriages being less in love and more at odds with each other than are those whose marriages ultimately succeed
enduring dynamics model(weaker from start)
T: problematic behavior that ultimately destroys a couple begins after they marry. As time goes by, some couples fall into a rut of increasing conflict and negativity that did not exist when the marriage began
emergent distress model (no predisposing factors)
T: couples typically begin their marriages with rosy, romanticized views of their relationship that are unrealistically positive. Then, as time goes by and the spouses stop working as hard to be adorable and charming to each other
disillusionment model
which models at work in pair project
enduring
disillusionment
enduring model in PAIR: Couples who were destined to be distressed were less what from the start
generous and less tender and more uncertain and more temperamental from the very start.
the best predictor of which couples would actually divorce was the …
disillusionment model.
what would the emergent distress and disil model expect to cause divorce
did not necessarily grow cantankerous or spiteful as the emergent distress model would expect; instead, they simply experienced the greatest change in their romantic feelings for each other.
many of the couples who were destined to divorce were more affectionate than most when their marriages began, and it took some time for their disappointment to develop: early vs late divorce how does this predict early behaviour
marriages were short-lived—who were divorced within 6 (or fewer) years—usually began their marriages with less love and more ambivalence
couples who ultimately divorced after longer periods—after 7 or more years of marriage—were especially affectionate and romantic when their marriages began
couples who were very in love at first ended u less sentimental toward each other than other couples
n no less
, but they experienced the biggest changes—that is, the steepest declines—in romantic behavior, and those changes predicted a delayed divorce
2 conclusions from pair project
the size and speed of changes in romance best predict which couples will divorce, and second, the problems couples bring to their marriage determine how quickly a divorce will occur.
both the … of satisfaction a couple experiences and the … in that satisfaction over time are key players in relational outcomes
level
change
Results from the Early Years of Marriage Project main finding
black couples more prone to divorce
Why were black couples more prone to divorce?
black couples had cohabitated for a longer period and were more likely to have had children before getting married. They also had lower incomes and were more likely to come from broken homes, and all of these influences are positively correlated with one’s risk of divorce
the … in which couples conduct their relationships may have substantial effects on the outcomes they encounter
social context
three general types of influences on our marital outcomes
cultural context (laws, discrimination)
personal context
relational context
e.g. of personal context
women working outside home
intimate environment couples create through their own perceptions of, and interactions with, each other. :T
relational context
people acknowledge all 3 when they generate explanations for their marital problems
f only 1 mostly of relational context (don’t mention broader culture)