Spencer James

Divorce in Europe and the United States: Commonalities and differences across nations

Although the United States has the highest divorce rate of any Western nation, divorce rates have been increasing in almost all European countries. In this review, we compare studies conducted in the United States and Europe that focus on three topics: (1) the demographic and economic predictors of divorce, (2) the estimated effects of divorce on adults, and (3) the estimated effects of divorce on children. This task is complicated by the substantial degree of diversity that exists across Europe, with research findings often varying across countries. Despite this complexity, a great deal of similarity in the causes and consequences of divorce exists across countries. Nevertheless, more research that directly compares the United States with specific European nations would add greatly to our understanding of these phenomena.

Variation in trajectories of women's marital quality

I examine variation in trajectories of womens marital quality across the life course. The analysis improves upon earlier research in three ways: (1) the analysis uses a sequential cohort design and data from the first 35years of marriage; (2) I analyze rich data from a national sample; (3) I examine multiple dimensions of marital quality. Latent class growth analyses estimated on data from women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 (N=2604) suggest multiple trajectories for each of three dimensions of marital quality, including two trajectories of marital happiness, two trajectories of marital communication, and three trajectories of marital conflict. Socioeconomic and demographic covariates are then used to illustrate how factors such as income, cohabitation, and race-ethnicity set individuals at risk of poor marital quality throughout the life course by differentiating between high and low trajectories of marital quality. Women on low marital quality trajectories are, as expected, at much greater risk of divorce. Taken together, these findings show how fundamental socioeconomic and demographic characteristics contribute to subsequent marital outcomes via their influence on trajectories of marital quality as well as providing a better picture of the complexity in contemporary patterns of marital quality.

Changes in Marital Beliefs Among Emerging Adults: Examining Marital Paradigms Over Time

Although research on marital beliefs among emerging adults has increased in recent years, most studies assume that marital beliefs are static features of emerging adulthood. Using a sample of 134 emerging adults in the United States tracked over a 1-year period, we explored if these emerging adults exhibited changes in their marital beliefs over time and what predicted such changes. We found that emerging adults in the sample showed significant growth over the 1-year period in the importance they placed on marriage while at the same time expecting to place less importance on their eventual marital role. Staying single and breaking up with a romantic partner were both related to decreases in marital salience, while cohabiting between data collections was associated with decreases in marital centrality. Finally, stronger marital salience at Time 1 was predictive of decreased binge drinking at Time 2, net of Time 1 assessments of such behavior. Such findings validate previous theoretical assumptions regarding marital beliefs.

Temporal Differences in Remarriage Timing: Comparing Divorce and Widowhood

This article examines the tempo of remarriage among individuals whose first marriages ended in divorce and individuals whose first marriages ended in spousal death. Drawing on event-history models, the results suggest that divorced individuals remarry quicker than individuals whose first marriage ended in spousal death. Interestingly, results also indicate that this relationship is moderated by both gender and parity, suggesting that demographic and life course factors can impede or encourage postmarital union formation.

Intergenerational Assistance to Adult Children: Gender and Number of Sisters and Brothers

This study considers how the number of sisters and brothers affects the flow of aid from older parents to adult children. Using data from the 2004 Middletown Kinship Survey (N = 338), the authors find that the aid adults receive from their parents varies by the gender composition of the sibship. Adults with more sisters tend to receive less assistance from their older parents. This holds true across a range of helping behaviors, including financial, gifts, transportation, housework and yard work, and technology. The pattern does not hold for brothers. Possible explanations include resource dilution (daughters drawing more on parents’ resources, leaving fewer resources to go around) or cooperative networks created among sisters (thus rendering aid from parents less necessary).

Longitudinal Patterns of Women's Marital Quality: The Case of Divorce, Cohabitation, and Race-Ethnicity

Previous work on marital quality has compared average levels of marital quality by demographic characteristics, such as cohabitation, divorce, or race-ethnicity. Less work has examined whether such differences persist over time. To begin to answer this question, this article uses multigroup latent growth curves to examine changes in marital quality over time, in addition to measuring differences in levels of reported marital quality among cohabitors versus noncohabitors, divorced versus stably married women, and members of different racial-ethnic groups. Although many differences are small and statistically insignificant, the results show that non-normative and traditionally disadvantaged groups experience not only lower levels of marital quality but that these differences also persist throughout the life course. This article also shows that using marital instead of relationship duration for cohabitors has substantive implications when interpreting the results.

Toward understanding posttraumatic stress and depression among trauma-affected widows in Sri Lanka.

OBJECTIVE In this study, we applied conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989) to explain high rates of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among war- and disaster-affected Tamil widows in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. We hypothesized exposure to potentially traumatic events and severity of current contextual problems would influence PTSS and depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through loss of psychological (view of self), environmental (sense of community), and energy (physical health) resources. METHOD Trained research assistants interviewed a convenience sample (N = 381) of women, using established measures of the constructs of interest. Data were analyzed using path analysis in MPlus. The significance of the indirect effects was tested using bootstrapping. RESULTS The model had an acceptable fit (χ2 = 4.06, df = 1, p < .05; Log Likelihood = -3344.26*; AIC = 6760.59; BIC = 6894.64; RMSEA = 0.09; CFI = .99; TLI = .91; SRMR = .02) and explained approximately 38% of the variance in both PTSS and depression. Contextual problems were significantly associated with PTSS and depression both directly and indirectly through deleterious effects on view of self, health status, and sense of community. Degree of trauma exposure was directly associated with indicators of distress. CONCLUSION Results support the utility of COR theory in this context and hold implications for research and program development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Changes in Spousal Relationships over the Marital Life Course

This chapter uses six waves of data from the Marital Instability Over the Life Course study to examine long-term trends in three aspects of spousal relationships: marital happiness, shared activities, and discord (n = 1617). Across the full sample, happiness declined gradually during the first 20 years of marriage and then stabilized. Participation in shared activities declined during the first 20 years of marriage and then increased, whereas discord declined continuously. These trends depended, however, on whether marriages ended in divorce. Overall, and contrary to some prior studies, our results suggest that marriages that remain together show little evidence of deterioration in relationship quality over the marital life course. Nevertheless, period effects were apparent, with marital relationships (irrespective of duration) becoming more troubled during the 1980s and 1990s but rebounding in 2000.