Summary
This paper links data obtained from a one-in-five systematic sample of New Zealand divorce files covering the period 1940–78 with published marriage and birth statistics to examine socio-demographic differentials in diuorce rates among couples married between 1939 and 1973. Differentials investigated are those by age at marriage, relative age of bride and groom, marital status prior to marriage, relative marital status of bride and groom, pregnancy status of the wife at marriage, timing of the first birth, religion, country of birth and socioeconomic status. Several findings of overseas studies, such as the special proneness to divorce of very youthful marriages and remarriages following previous divorces, are verified for New Zealand. After controlling for age at marriage, pregnancy does not seem to have directly increased the risk of divorce.
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Carmichael, G.A. Socio-demographic correlates of Divorce in New Zealand. Journal of Population Research 5, 58–81 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03029386
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03029386