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Author: Conger, Darius J.
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Conger, Darius J.
Intergenerational Divorce Propensities: A Study of Mothers and Daughters
Presented: Ithaca, NY, The New York Economic Association 42nd Annual Conference, Ithaca College, 1989
Cohort(s): Mature Women, Young Women
Publisher: New York State Economics Association
Keyword(s): Assets; Divorce; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Marital Status; Mothers and Daughters; Pairs (also see Siblings)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper explores the intergenerational nature of divorce utilizing data on mother-daughter pairs from the NLS of Mature Women and Young Women cohorts. Using a quit-rate model of the divorce process, it was found that, for the group of mothers studied, income variables, specifically household net assets and husband's income, exerted a significant negative pressure on divorce probabilities while husband's negative attitude toward his wife working and husband-wife differences in educational attainment exerted significant positive pressure. Non-whites had a significantly higher tendency to divorce while length of marriage for the older age group yielded the expected inverted U-shaped pattern. For the daughters studied, race and family's net assets exerted the same influence as they had for the mothers. However, except for assets, none of the standard income or labor market variables studied were significant for the younger cohort. For both cohorts, a previous divorce lowered the probability of a second or higher order divorce although not significantly for the daughters. Daughter's divorce probabilities were found to rise and taper off during marriages of short duration while mother's marriage duration first decreased then increased divorce probabilities. Implications for future research are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Conger, Darius J. "Intergenerational Divorce Propensities: A Study of Mothers and Daughters." Presented: Ithaca, NY, The New York Economic Association 42nd Annual Conference, Ithaca College, 1989.