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Shifting Fortunes in a Changing Economy

Trends in the Economic Well-Being of Divorced Women

  • Chapter
Fragile Families and the Marriage Agenda

Abstract

Income losses resulting from marital disruption have traditionally contributed to high rates of poverty for single women. This paper explores trends in the economic consequences of divorce using data from the 1980–2001 Current Population Survey March Demographic Supplement. Divorce still adversely affects women’s incomes, but divorcées have achieved noticeable economic gains over the last twenty years. Newly developed econometric techniques reveal progress at all points of the income distribution; middle- and upper-class economic gains cannot be attributed to polarization within divorced women’s incomes. Multivariate analyses show that progress can largely be attributed to divorcées’ progress in the workforce and changing demographic attributes, rather than economic dependence on men, relatives, or income transfers. Finally, we explore the implications of these results for understanding stratification in contemporary America.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts

    Matthew McKeever

  2. Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

    Nicholas H. Wolfinger

Authors
  1. Matthew McKeever
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  2. Nicholas H. Wolfinger
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, 225 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112-0080, USA

    Lori Kowaleski-Jones  & Nicholas H. Wolfinger  & 

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McKeever, M., Wolfinger, N.H. (2006). Shifting Fortunes in a Changing Economy. In: Kowaleski-Jones, L., Wolfinger, N.H. (eds) Fragile Families and the Marriage Agenda. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-26025-0_6

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