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Title: After Marriage Ends: Economic Consequences for Midlife Women
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Morgan, Leslie A. |
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After Marriage Ends: Economic Consequences for Midlife Women Belmont, CA: Sage Publications, 1991 Cohort(s): Mature Women Publisher: Sage Publications Keyword(s): Divorce; Income; Labor Force Participation; Marital Disruption; Marital Dissolution; Widows Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. This book examines the economic transitions of mid-life women as they experience the end of marriage from separation, divorce, or widowhood. Research has typically focused on either younger women as they experienced separation/divorce or older women as they were widowed, leaving aside the issue of whether there are similarities in these outcomes. Using data drawn from the NLS of Mature Women, this study follows hundreds of women through marital transitions and examines the loss of income, changes in employment patterns, and subsequent remarriage following widowhood, separation, or divorce. There are two unique contributions of the analysis: 1) it permits direct comparison of the different marital status groups, without the difficulties imposed by serious age differences or different study designs, samples or questions; and 2) the length of time that is studied. Much of the prior research has looked only at one time period following the ending of marriage. This analysis uses repeated measurements after marriages end compared with baseline years during the marriage to establish true changes in the circumstances of mid-life women and their families. Results suggest that there are indeed parallels in the experiences of widowed and divorced women in terms of the outcomes they face after their marriages end. Incomes and their adequacy to needs both decrease substantially, with corresponding rises in poverty. Return to work and remarriage are also discussed in terms of these events. Policy issues and underlying causes in the gender/family role system point to possible avenues for preventing economic distress after marriage ends. |
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Bibliography Citation
Morgan, Leslie A. After Marriage Ends: Economic Consequences for Midlife Women. Belmont, CA: Sage Publications, 1991. |