This project will expand analyses of marriage and divorce being conducted under HD2433, taking advantage of the wealth of data provided by the 1987 National Survey of Families and Households which is being conducted by the PIs. Analyses will include: I. Documentation of the extent and timing of cohabitation. We will document the explosive growth in cohabitation within population subgroups, and analyze differentials in the rate of cohabitation and in the rate of marriage following cohabitation. Trends in union formation by age will be compared for first unions (including either cohabitation or marriage) and for the more common measure of ages at first marriage. II. The Stability of Unions. Methodological issues to be addressed will include the measurement implications of reconciliations, replication of our recent estimate of marital disruption levels in the early 1980s, and comparisons of levels and multivariate effects between male and female respondents, and between marital stability and union stability (irrespective of marriage). The analyses of factors affecting marital disruption will be conducted for background variables; homogamy with respect to background, religion, and education; and for an array of measures of early marital experience including employment, unemployment and school enrollment. III. Remarriage Rates of remarriage will be analyzed with attention to the possible role of increasing cohabitation in declining remarriage rates. Our earlier work will be extended with particular emphasis on material relating to separation experience collected from persons separated in the last 10 years.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01HD022433-03A1
Application #
3321975
Study Section
Social Sciences and Population Study Section (SSP)
Project Start
1987-01-01
Project End
1991-03-31
Budget Start
1989-04-01
Budget End
1990-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
1989
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Sprecher, S; Sullivan, Q; Hatfield, E (1994) Mate selection preferences: gender differences examined in a national sample. J Pers Soc Psychol 66:1074-80
Martin, T C; Bumpass, L L (1989) Recent trends in marital disruption. Demography 26:37-51
Bumpass, L L; Sweet, J A (1989) National estimates of cohabitation. Demography 26:615-25