Marital Instability Over the Life Course
Purpose and Objectives
Original Study
While the probability of ending one's marriage through divorce declines steadily with age and marital duration, it was clear when this study began that marital instability is not just a problem of youth. Middle-aged persons had contributed substantially to the 1970s rise in divorce rates for women 45-49, only slightly less than the increase for all ages of 5.6 percent.
Because the majority of all divorces occur to people under 35, studies of the correlates of marital instability had traditionally been heavily weighted by the experience of young people. We proposed that some of the traditional correlates of marital instability such as age at marriage and child density and even marital satisfaction would be attenuated in middle-age marriages, while others, such as income and economic stability and wife's employment, might increase in importance. In addition, we proposed new variables as promising explanations of marital instability during the middle years and later: health, mid-life evaluation, and sex differences in the disadvantages of divorce or permanent separation. The primary aim of the original study was to assess the differential causes of marital instability over the life cycle.
Wave II
Wave II sought to determine why people who are older or in older marriages are more likely to have stable marriages and less likely to divorce, despite, in many cases, rather low levels of marital satisfaction.
Wave III
Wave III was conducted in order to follow up on questions raised by findings in Wave II. Specific objectives were to investigate whether there is a higher threshold of instability among older marriages, whether these marriages merely take a slower path to divorce, or whether family assets hold older marriages together at a relatively high plateau of instability. Long-term and short-term post-divorce adjustment, including remarriage, was also examined.
Wave V
The objectives of Wave V of the study were to provide a definitive answer about whether an upturn occurs in marital relations in the later stages of the life course, and to build on earlier work, tracking the way in which parental marital quality and divorce are related to offspring well-being.
Wave VI
Wave VI of the study was conducted in order to evaluate whether marital quality remained the same, improved, or declined between 1980 and 2000, and to delineate the factors that account for this change; to assess the extent to which family-of-origin characteristics and marital history erode or enhance people's physical health and psychological well-being over the life course, and to specify the mechanisms at work; and to understand how differences in people's histories affect whether they leave longitudinal studies, assess the extent to which attrition affects study findings, and develop ways to adjust for attrition bias.
Last modified: 02/13/06 | Contact Webmaster
