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Trends in the intergenerational transmission of divorce

  • Notes on Divorce Across the Generation
  • Published:
Demography

Abstract

I use data from the 1973-1996 NORC General Social Survey to examine trends in the intergenerational transmission of divorce. the propensity for the children of divorce to end their own marriages. The rate of divorce transmission declined by almost 50% in the study period. This result was essentially unchanged by statistical controls for various personal and family background differences between respondents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family and Consumer Studies, The University of Utah, 225 S 1400 E, Room 228, 841120080, Salt Lake City, UT

    Nicholas H. Wolfinger

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  1. Nicholas H. Wolfinger
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Correspondence to Nicholas H. Wolfinger.

Additional information

I thank two anonymous reviewers, the editors of Demography, Norval Glenn, William M. Mason, Matthew McKeever, Jerome Rabow, Judith Seltzer, Donald J. Treiman, Dawn Upchurch, and Jessica Wolfinger for their thoughtful comments on previous drafts. This research has also benefited greatly from conversations with Ruth Klap, Eric Kostello, and Samantha Luks. Finally, I thank the Bireley Foundation for its generous support. A previous version of this paper was presented at the 1996 annual meetings of the Society for the Study of Social Problems and the American Sociological Association, New York.

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Wolfinger, N.H. Trends in the intergenerational transmission of divorce. Demography 36, 415–420 (1999). https://doi.org/10.2307/2648064

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2648064

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