The objective of this research project is to explore how spouses? economic resources affect marital bargains and outcomes. Two related questions will be investigated: 1) under what conditions do spouses have more bargaining power to get what they want from their marriages; and 2) under what conditions do spouses decide to exit marriage. The main hypotheses are 1) spouses with more resources are able to strike bargains about marital roles that they perceive to be more fair, and that lead to more satisfying marriages; and 2) economic resources are associated with exits from marriage only when spouses are unhappy with the marriage because they have been unable to bargain for what they want. Multinomial logistic regression, fixed effects, and event history techniques will be applied to data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households to model changes in marital quality and probabilities of relationship dissolution. Additionally, this study will examine whether these processes differ for husbands and wives. This research will shed light on how economic resources, perceptions of relationship quality, and relationship outcomes are interrelated.
| England, Paula; Allison, Paul D; Sayer, Liana C (2014) When one spouse has an affair, who is more likely to leave? Demogr Res 30:535-546 |
