Volume 7 - Article 16 | Pages 537–564  

Socioeconomic differentials in divorce risk by duration of marriage

By Marika Jalovaara

Abstract

Using register-based data on Finnish first marriages that were intact at the end of 1990 (about 2.1 million marriage-years) and followed up for divorce in 1991-1993 (n = 21,204), this research explored the possibility that the effect of spouses' socioeconomic position on divorce risk varies according to duration of marriage.
The comparatively high divorce risks for spouses with little formal education and for spouses in manual worker occupations were found to be specific to marriages of relatively short duration. In contrast, such factors as unemployment, wife's high income, and living in a rented dwelling were found to increase divorce risk at all marital durations.

Author’s Affiliation

• Marika Jalovaara - Turun Yliopisto (University of Turku), Finland EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

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Homeownership after separation: A longitudinal analysis of Finnish register data
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From never partnered to serial cohabitors: Union trajectories to childlessness
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Are there gender differences in family trajectories by education in Finland?
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Homogamy in socio-economic background and education, and the dissolution of cohabiting unions
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Does his paycheck also matter?: The socioeconomic resources of co-residential partners and entry into parenthood in Finland
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Recent fertility patterns of Finnish women by union status: A descriptive account
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A review of the antecedents of union dissolution
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