Chapter 13: Dissolution and Loss Flashcards
the prevalence of divorce and marriage in the US today
- The divorce rate in the US is around 50%
- The length of the average marriage in the US is 18 years
- Only 46% of adult women in the US are presently married
- 23% of American children now live in single-parent homes
the prevalence of divorce over time
There was a large increase in the rate of divorce in the second half of the 20th century
Potential reasons for the increasing divorce rate
- We expect more of marriage, holding it to higher standards
- Working women have more financial freedom and better access to attractive alternatives, and they experience more corrosive conflict between work and family
- Creeping 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
Levinger’s barrier model
Argues that three elements influence the breakup of relationships
3 elements of Levinger’s barrier model
- Attraction: enhanced by the rewards of a relationship offers and is diminished by its cost
- Alternates: any alternative to a current relationship
- Barriers: factors that make it hard to leave a relationship
key contributions of Levinger’s barrier model
- Highlights the fact that unhappy partners who would like to break up may stay together because it would cost them too much to leave
- Points out that many barriers to divorce are psychological
Karney and Bradbury’s vulnerability-stress-adaptation model
Highlights three factors that can contribute to divorce
3 elements of Karney and Bradbury’s vulnerability-stress-adaptation model
- Enduring vulnerabilities: increase one’s risk of divorce. Include one’s inborn traits and past experiences.
- Adaptive processes: processes with which people respond to stress
- Stressful events: require partners to provide support to one another and adjust to new circumstances
stress spillover
bringing surly moods home and interacting irascibly with our innocent partners
Processes of Adaptation in Intimate Relationships (PAIR) Project
kept track of 168 couples who married in 1981 and focused on the manner in which spouses adapted to their lives together
findings of the PAIR project
after 13 years, 35% of couples had divorced, 20% weren’t happy, and 45% were happily married
3 possible explanations for the PAIR project findings
- enduring dynamics model
- emergent distress model
- disillusionment model
enduring dynamics model
suggests that spouses bring to their marriages problems, incompatibilities, and enduring vulnerabilities that surface during their courtship
interventions for enduring dynamics model
keeping ambivalent couples from ever marrying
emergent distress model
suggests that problematic behaviour that ultimately destroys a couple begins after they marry
interventions for emergent distress model
encourage spouses to remain cheerful, generous, attentive, and kind
disillusionment model
suggests that as time goes by, spouses stop working as hard to be charming and the romance fades
interventions for the disillusionment model
maintain dispassionate and accurate perceptions of one’s lover
which models did the PAIR project support?
- The PAIR project found that the enduring dynamics and the disillusionment model, but not the emergent distress model predicted divorce
- Couples whose marriages were short-lived began their marriages with less love and those who divorced after longer periods were especially affectionate
- This is consistent with the disillusionment model (they had further to fall)
Two main conclusions from the PAIR project
- The size and speed of changes in romance best predict which couples will divorce
- The problems couples bring into their marriage determine how quickly a divorce will occur
Early Years of Marriage (EYM) Project
followed Black and white couples in Detroit to determine how the social conditions they experience affect their marital outcomes
EYM project findings
Found that Black couples were more prone to divorce
Potential reasons for higher divorce rate in Black couples
- Black couples had cohabitated for a longer period
- They were more likely to have had children before getting married
- They had lower incomes
- They were more likely to have come from broken homes
Three broad influences on marital outcomes
Cultural context
Personal contexts
Relational context
relational context
the intimate environment couples create through their own perceptions of and interactions with each other
Marital Instability Over the Life Course Project
conducted phone interviews to determine what caused divorces
Marital Instability Over the Life Course Project findings
- Women complained of infidelity, substance abuse, and abuse more often than men
- Men were more likely to complain of poor communication or to announce that they did not know what had gone wrong
- Ex-wifes complained more than ex-husbands
- Few accounts from either sex acknowledge the possible influences of cultural or personal contexts
SES and divorce
people with low-status occupations, less education, and lower incomes are more likely to divorce than are those with higher SES. in particular, women with good eductaion are much less likely to divorce than women with poor education are
race and divorce
due to their greater exposure to otehr risk factors, such as low income, premarital birth, parental divorce, and cohabitation, and despite their greater respect for marraige, Black Americans are more likely to divorce than white Americans are
sex ratios and divorce
around the world, divorce rates are higher when women outnumber men and the sex ratio is low
social mobility and divorce
people who move often from place to place are more prone to divorce than are those who stay in one place and put down roots
no-fault legislation and divorce
laws that make a divorce easier to obtaion make a divorce more likely
working women and divorce
divorce rates incraese when a higher proportion of women enter the workforce
age at marriage and divorce
people who marry as teenagers are more likely to divorce than those who marry after age 25
prior marriage and divorce
second marriages are more likely to end in divorce than first marriages, in part because remarriages always involve someone who has already been divorced
parental divorce and divorce
parents who divorce increase the chances that their children will divorce. however, as divorce becomes more commonplace, this effect is declining
religion and divorce
attendance at religious services is correlated with a lower risk of divorce, especially when both spouses attend regularly and pursue the same faith. divorce is more likely when spouses pursue different faiths
teenage sex and divorce
first intercourse that is unwanted or that occurs before the age of 16 is associated with an increased risk of divorce