2003/09/01 by Nigel Barber · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Family Dynamics and Relationships #Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences #Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
paper · doi:10.1300/j087v39n03_06
openalex publication_date 2003/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This cross-national study of 1996 divorce rates in 76 countries tested two hypotheses, that divorce would increase with economic independence of women (indexed by gross national product, female labor, literacy, and urbanization) and with reduced emotional commitment of spouses to marriage (as indexed by low population sex ratios, low fertility, high teen births, polygyny). Both hypotheses were strongly supported in a regression analysis controlling for marriage rate and European location. Divorce rates were higher in countries where youngwomen (20-24 yr) had many men of the same age to choose among but lower in countries with a high proportion of adult men (15-49 yr) to women. Marriages around the world thus break up with diminished economic and emotional interdependence of spouses consistent with the idea that marriage is a reproductive contract.