Stacy J. Rogers

A Longitudinal Study of Marital Problems and Subsequent Divorce

This study investigated the extent to which reports of marital problems in 1980 predicted divorce between 1980 and 1992, the extent to which these problems mediated the impact of demographic and life course variables on divorce, and gender differences in reports of particular marital problems and in the extent to which these reports predicted divorce. Wives reported more marital problems than husbands did, although this was due to husbands tendency to report relatively few problems caused by their spouses. A variety of marital problems predicted divorce up to 12 years in the future. A parsimonious set of marital problems involving infidelity, spending money foolishly, drinking or drug use or both, jealousy, moodiness, and irritating habits mediated moderate proportions of the associations between demographic and life course variables and divorce. Key Words: divorce, gender, longitudinal studies, marital problems. Researchers trying to determine the causes of divorce have approached the problem in two ways. Some researchers have focused on demographic and life course variables that affect the risk of divorce, variables such as age at marriage, social class, race, religiosity, and parental divorce. Others have adopted a subjective perspective and asked previously married individuals why their marriages ended. In her 1990 review of the previous decades research on predictors of divorce, White (1990) noted the relatively small number of studies in the latter group (e.g., Bloom, Niles, & Tatcher, 1985; Burns, 1984; Cleek & Pearson, 1985; Kitson & Sussman, 1982; Spanier & Thompson, 1987). She argued that personal accounts are useful and provocative, but because these studies only include divorced respondents, they can tell us little about the extent to which these factors predict divorce (p. 908). She also pointed out that there is little integration between studies of personal accounts of divorce and studies that focus on demographic and life course predictors of marital dissolution. Finally, she recommended more research that focuses on marital processes as predictors of divorce. The study presented here responds to Whites call for more research on the links between marital processes and marital dissolution. Our study goes beyond prior research in three ways. First, in contrast to previous studies that used divorced peoples retrospective accounts of marital problems, we use panel data from a nationally representative sample of married persons to investigate the extent to which marital problems in 1980 predict divorce between 1980 and 1992. In doing so, we address questions about the validity and usefulness of peoples self-reports of marital problems as predictors of divorce. Second, we integrate data on specific marital problems (which we view as proximal causes of divorce) with data on the demographic and life course predictors of marital disruption identified in most prior sociological research (which we view as distal causes of divorce). To accomplish this, we assess the extent to which particular marital problems in 1980 mediate the associations between demographic and life course variables and divorce. Finally, because previous evidence suggests that men and women experience marriage and divorce differently (Bernard, 1972; Kitson, 1992; Thompson & Walker, 1989), we consider gender differences, both in the frequency of reports of marital problems in 1980 and in the extent to which these problems predict divorce between 1980 and 1992. MARITAL PROBLEMS AND DIVORCE Marital Problems as Predictors of Divorce Despite the substantial body of research on marital disruption, few prospective studies illustrate the extent to which specific characteristics of a relationship predict divorce. One exception is the work of Gottman and his colleagues, who have investigated some of the linkages among marital interaction, conflict resolution, and divorce (Gottman, 1994). …

Satisfaction with Parenting: The Role of Marital Happiness, Family Structure, and Parents' Gender.

Using data from a nationally representative panel of parents interviewed in 1988 and 1992, we report a model of parenting satisfaction, with particular attention to marital happiness, family structure, and parents gender. Cross-sectional analyses show that parenting satisfaction is significantly higher for married parents with high marital quality, for those who are parenting their own biological children, and for mothers. Panel analyses reveal that satisfaction with parenting is highly stable over this 4-year period but is positively related to increases in marital quality. Further consideration of this association using structural equation models indicates that reciprocal paths between marital happiness and parenting satisfaction are statistically significant and are of approximately equal strength and that these associations operate similarly for mothers and fathers. The results support the need for greater attention to parental satisfaction as a factor that can have independent effects on marital happiness and perhaps other dimensions of family life. Key Words: gender, marital happiness, parenting, remarriage. Research on role identities demonstrates that parenthood is at the top of most parents identity salience hierarchies (Thoits, 1992), ranking ahead of marriage and job as a source of identity. Despite the importance of parenthood to the individuals who occupy this role, sociologists have paid relatively little attention to the satisfaction of incumbents. Job satisfaction and marital satisfaction have been addressed at length, and we have large literatures on these concepts and their measurement, determinants, and consequences. The lack of attention to parenting might be attributed to the fact that, unlike marital or job satisfaction, parenting satisfaction is less likely to predict role tenure. However, studies of divorce indicate that social parenthood is not immutable, and parenting satisfaction may have important consequences for the quality of parenting not only within marriages but also for parenting, visitation, and child support compliance after divorce (Furstenberg & Harris, 1992). Indeed, parental satisfaction appears to be related negatively to harshness of discipline (Simons, Beaman, Conger, & Chao, 1993) and positively to parents health and well-being (Umberson & Williams, 1993). One issue that has been considered extensively is the relationship between marital happiness and parental satisfaction. Although multiple interpretations may be placed on the strong empirical correlation between these two family outcomes, for the most part, scholars have treated marital happiness as the driving force and given little weight to the possibility that parenting experiences can have independent effects on marital quality (e.g., Belsky, 1984; Easterbrooks & Emde, 1988; Erel & Burnham, 1995). Given the high salience of the parental role and the power of parenthood to shape life experiences, this assumption of oneway causality seems premature. Unfortunately, reliance on cross-sectional data has prevented previous researchers from addressing the issue effectively. One goal of the research presented here is to extend previous work by using a nationally representative panel of individuals to consider this relationship in more detail. We develop a model of parenting satisfaction and test it on a national panel of 1,200 parents interviewed in 1988 and 1992. Because little prior research has been done, we cast a broad net to search for variables that might predict parenting satisfaction. We identify relevant variables by considering role theory and reviewing previous studies of parenting. Our analysis proceeds in three steps. First, we establish the cross-sectional correlates of parental satisfaction. Second, we use linear panel analysis to identify the effects of life course changes on parental satisfaction. And third, we use structural equation modeling with AMOS (Arbuckle, 1995) to investigate the potential reciprocal relationship between marital happiness and parenting satisfaction. …

Wives’ Employment and Spouses’ Marital Happiness Assessing the Direction of Influence Using Longitudinal Couple Data

The authors investigate the direction of the relationship between marital happiness and wives’ full-time employment using the 1987 to 1988 and 1992 to 1994 waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. First, the authors predict change in wives’ employment between the two waves using marital happiness and other Time 1 characteristics. The results show that shifting into full-time employment is more likely for unhappily married than for happily married wives. Second, they examine how changes in wives’ employment between Times 1 and 2 influence marital stability and changes in marital happiness. The authors find that contrary to frequently invoked social and economic theories, wives’ full-time employment is associated with greater marital stability. Nonetheless, changes in wives’ employment have no significant effect on how marital quality changes between Times 1 and 2.

Wives' Income and Marital Quality: Are There Reciprocal Effects?

The nature and direction of the relationship between wives income and marital quality are investigated in this research. Competing hypotheses are tested using panel data for a nationally representative sample of 771 married women and men (not couples) and structural equation modeling. The results indicate that increases in wives income do not significantly affect either husband,s or wives perceptions of marital discord. Instead, increases in marital discord contribute significantly to increases in wives income. Further, increases in marital discord contribute to increases in wives income by increasing the likelihood that nonemployed wives will enter the labor force. Key Words: marital quality, wives income, work. The complex association between womens growing economic independence and marital quality and stability is an important part of the debate over whether marriage is declining as an institution (Cherlin, 1992; Coontz, 1997; Hood, 1983; Oppenheimer, 1997; Ruggles, 1997; Scanzoni, 1972, 1978). Some observers have pointed to the parallel increase in rates of womens participation in the labor force and rates of divorce during this century (Cherlin, 1992; Ruggles, 1997). There is substantial research on the relationship between married womens changing economic opportunities and the quality and stability of marriage, but conclusions remain both controversial and equivocal. In particular, the direction of the association-whether increases in wives participation in the labor force and increases in wives income primarily affect marital quality or whether declines in marital quality primarily affect wives laborforce behavior and income-remains unclear. There is support in previous research for both directional relationships. Some observers claim that wives income affects the quality of marriage and the likelihood of divorce. Previous thinking on this topic suggests both positive effects on marriage (Conger et al., 1990; Hood, 1983; Scanzoni, 1972, 1978), as well as detrimental effects on marriage (Becker, 1981; Booth, Johnson, White, & Edwards, 1984; Hiedemann, Suhomlinova, & ORand, 1998; Treas, 1993). An opposing perspective suggests that declines in marital quality affect wives behavior in the labor force and their income. This possibility has been addressed less frequently. Some observers emphasize that economic resources lessen womens dependence on marriage at both the aggregate and individual levels (Cherlin, 1992; Johnson & Skinner, 1986; Ruggles, 1997), and others emphasize the contributions that employment and income make to the well-being of both women and men, regardless of marital status (Hochschild, 1997; Hood, 1983; Scanzoni, 1978). The goal of the research presented here is to extend previous work by clarifying the nature and direction of the association between wives income and marital quality. Past research has been unable to address this question due to the limitations of cross-sectional data and the use of statistical techniques that permit the investigation of only one path at a time. The present research overcomes these limitations by investigating reciprocal paths between wives income and marital quality using longitudinal data and structural equation modeling. This approach makes it possible to investigate both of the hypothesized directional relationships and to test the relative strength of each. ECONOMIC CHANGES AND WIVES INCOME Data come from 1980-1988, the years when most of the dramatic transformations in married womens employment and earnings became particularly visible. Substantial gender differences persist between married women and married men in their employment outcomes and responsibility for paid work and family work (Blair & Lichter, 1991; Brayfield, 1995; Thompson & Walker, 1989). However, there have been important changes in married womens attachment to the labor force and in their earnings. …

Strong support but uneasy relationships : Coresidence and adult children's relationships with their parents

Using data on a sample of 435 young adults who were interviewed in 1992 and their parents who were interviewed in 1988, we examine the effects of coresidence on multiple dimensions of parentchild solidarity. Results show that coresident young adults give, receive, and perceive more support from their parents than nonresident children, but that they report significantly, albeit modestly, lower affective relationships with their parents. The effects of coresidence are more positive when children are more adult and responsible (older, employed, in school). Coresidence and proximity are strongly related to parent-child solidarity, but parents reports of the quality of prior family relationships have surprisingly little effect on the likelihood of coresidence or on childrens reports of current relationships. Key Words: coresidence, exchange, parent-child relationships, proximity, solidarity. A substantial amount of research in the last decade has charted the demographic and life course factors associated with patterns of leaving home and returning to home among young adults. (See White, 1994, for a review.) However, much less is known about how residence patterns influence parent-child relationships during the transition to adulthood. A prolonged transition to adulthood and delayed age at marriage have meant that more children are living at home longer and often returning home after a period of independent living (Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1994). Among those remaining unmarried until middle age, a substantial minority continue to live with their parents, and three recent studies using different data sets concur in estimating that one of seven parents over age 65 still has children living at home (Aquilino, 1990; Speare & Avery, 1993; Ward, Logan, & Spitze, 1992). Thus, the effect of coresidence on parent-child relationships is an issue for many American families. In this study we draw on research from social network perspectives and transition-to-adulthood perspectives to address multiple dimensions of the relationship between coresidence and parentchild solidarity. We use a national sample of 435 young adults from the Marital Instability over the Life Course Study to examine the following questions: Does coresidence raise levels of exchange at the expense of the quality of the parent-child relationship? How important is home leaving compared with other markers of the transition to adulthood (e.g., age, employment, and school leaving) in affecting parent-child relationships? Finally, how important are parental assessments of prior quality of the family relationship in affecting coresidence patterns and parent-child solidarity? The child interviews that we analyze are attached to a multiple-wave study of their parents, allowing us to link offspring reports to their parents prior reports of the quality of their family relationships. We combine parents and childrens reports over two points in time, which allows us to extend previous studies to form a more complete picture of the effects of coresidence on parent-child relationships. BACKGROUND Conceptual Frameworks Structural arguments. Two recent models of family solidarity, proposed by Rossi and Rossi (1990) and Roberts and Bengtson (1991), concur in giving proximity an integral role in influencing family solidarity. Conceiving of family solidarity as a multidimensional construct that includes exchange, affective closeness, interaction, normative obligations, and value consensus, as well as proximity, these models suggest that proximity is not merely a facilitator of family solidarity but an essential element. If we think of coresidence as a special case of close proximity, then these models would suggest both more exchange and more positive sentiments when parents and children coreside than when they live apart. Although such an expectation fits in neatly with earlier social exchange theory drawn from small groups research (for example, Homans, 1950, trilogy of interaction-activities-sentiments), two recent theoretical arguments challenge the notion that proximity and interaction necessarily lead to more positive sentiments. …

Mothers' Work Hours and Marital Quality: Variations by Family Structure and Family Size

This research uses data from the 1988 wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Merged Child-Mother, to investigate the association between married mothers employment and their reports of marital conflict and marital happiness in continuously married families with children and in mother-stepfather families. For continuously married families with children, the findings indicate a nonsignificant trend that is consistent with role strain perspectives. For mother-stepfather families, there is a significant trend in which mothers full-time employment is associated with higher marital quality when there are more children in the household. These findings are interpreted in light of the distributive justice perspectives emphasis on the meanings of roles and the importance of spouses perceptions of equity for marital quality. In the last 30 years, married women with children have moved into the work force and remained there in increasing numbers. In 1990, 59% of married women with preschool children and 74% of married women with children between the ages of 6 and 17 years were employed (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992). Fourteen percent of all children who are living with two parents live in mother-stepfather families, where maternal employment is even more common (Thomson, 1994; U.S Bureau of the Census, 1992). Thus, a significant majority of continuously married mothers and mothers in mother-stepfather families find themselves trying to balance the demands of work, parenting, and marital roles. Research suggests that work may have positive, as well as negative, effects on the marital relationships of continuously married mothers, but virtually nothing is known about how the employment of mothers in mother-stepfather families affects their marital relationships. The research presented here investigates the relationship between married mothers work and their reports of marital quality in continuously married families and in motherstepfather families. It provides further insights into the impact of two major social changes-the large scale labor force participation of married mothers and the increased number of stepfamilies--on family life. This study focuses on mothers rather than fathers or stepfathers for several reasons. First, although the normativeness of dual-earner families with children has changed the nature of family life in recent decades, change is most apparent in womens lives and family roles because families continue to be organized according to traditional, gendered expectations of behavior (Ferree, 1990; Thompson & Walker, 1989). Although there is evidence that wives employment and earnings may increase husbands household participation Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska, 711 Oldfather Hall, P.O. Box 880324, Lincoln, NE 68588 (srogers@ unlinfo.unl.edu). Key Words: family size, marital quality, parenthood, remarriage, work. (Blair & Lichter, 1991; Ishii-Kuntz & Coltrane, 1992), traditional, gendered arrangements are intransigent. In dual-earner couples husbands consistently participate less than wives in household work and childcare (Blair & Lichter, 1991; Brayfield, 1995; Coltrane & Ishii-Kuntz, 1992; Hochschild, 1989). And even in couples with more education and more egalitarian gender ideologies, household tasks continue to be largely apportioned according to traditional gender roles (Blair & Lichter, 1991). These same patterns also hold in remarried families, though remarried husbands do somewhat more household work than their continuously married, male counterparts (Ishii-Kuntz & Coltrane,1992). Second, research indicates that in dual-earner families with children it is the women who express dissatisfaction with the increased demands they face from work and family roles (Booth, Johnson, White, & Edwards, 1984; Hochschild, 1989; Hoffman, 1989). Because wives initiate divorce more frequently than husbands and conflicts over gender roles and the household division of labor are frequently cited areas of marital dissatisfaction and causes for divorce (Hochschild, 1989; Kitson & Sussman, 1982), the effects of mothers employment have implications for the stability as well as for the quality of marital relationships. …