How many divorces occur in the US ea/ yr?
1/2 as many divorces as marriages!
How long do most marriages last?
Only about 2/3rds stay together for 10 years and less than half reach their 21st wedding anniversary.
The average length of marriage in the US is just over 18 yrs
How much of the present adult population is married in the US? How many US children live in single-parent homes?
about 1/2 of adult pop
25% of american children
How have our views of marriage changed?
Marriage is no longer the practical necessity it used to be- ppl pursue marriage as a path to personal fulfillment. Our expectations have become too high.
What does marriage do to a couple? What about same sex marriages?
It increases commitment! We see the same pattern with same sex relationships.
What are the trends of happiness we’re seeing with marriages?
The % of ppl saying their marriages are very happy is lower than it was 25 yrs ago. The number ov conflicts and problems spouses report are higher.
Trends we are seeing in society that are affecting marriages.
- Women are entering the workforce- the more women work the lower the quality her marriage seems to be. Harder to do chores, the couples spend less time together, higher CLalt.
- Women earn more money now- this means they are able to divorce if need be (however poverty has an even greater impact- ppl who are v. poor are 2x more likely to divorce)
How have our gender roles changed?
Women are gradually becoming more assertive and self-reliant and are dividing household responsibilities more equitably. Our society is having less gendered roles- and increases in family based decision making have resulted in higher marital qualities. However, the new division of household chores has decreased happiness with men but increased for wives
How has Western culture influenced divorce rates?
We are becoming more ind., ppl are less tied to their communities than in the past. We don’t know our neighbours, we’re a part of less clubs, we entertain at home less and move more- this results in us depending on our spouse more b/c we have less external social support. Also, if not connected don’t have the social norms around us making divorce a taboo.
What does casual cohabitation lead to? (3)
- less respect for the institution of marriage
- less favourable expectations about the outcomes of marriage
- increased willingness to divorice
Why are children with divorced parents more likely to divorce?
- They have less favourable views of marriage, and they report less trust in their partners when they begin their own rom rs. (they have less faith their marriages will last)
- They learn how to behave in rr from their parents and those who remember a lot of anger tend to have marriages of worth quality themselves.
How much do our friends who get divorced influence us?
A LOT- if we have 1 degree of freedom (parent, child, sibling or friend) we are 75% more likely to divorce
2 degrees- 33% more likely
7 reasons divorce rates have increased
- We expect more out of marriages
- Working women have more financial freedom and higher CLAlt
- Individualistic culture
- Laws make it easier
- Casual cohabitation make it easier
- Children of divorce are more likely to divorce too
- More of us have friends who are divorced
What are the 3 types of factors that make up Levinger’s Barrier model that influence the breakup of relationships.
- Attraction- enhanced by the rewards a rs offers (enjoyable companionship, sexual fulfillment, security, social status) diminished by costs
- Alternatives- other partners, being single, achieving occupational success
- Barriers- things that make it hard to leave (legal and social pressures, religious and morals, finances)
What was a major contribution of Levinger’s approach?
To highlight the fact that unhappy partners who would like to break up may stay together b/c it would cost them too much to leave.
He also argued that many barriers to divorce are psychological rather than material. Eg too much guilt/b.c of kids etc.
Based on a 12 year study, what two perceived barriers distinguished couples who divorced or not?
- Dependence on one’s spouse
- Religious beliefs
* *But if ppl had grown genuinely dissatisfied with their marriages even those 2 barriers didn’t matter.
What are the 3 influences that can contribute to divorce in Karney and Bradbury’s Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model (of marriage instability)
- Enduring vulnerabilities- eg. adverse experiences in one’s family of origin, poor education, maladaptive personality traits. these don’t make divorce inevitable- but they can shade the circumstances a person encounters and they all influence the..
- Adaptive processes- how ppl respond to stress. If a couple is lucky and encounters only infrequent and milk difficulties, even those with poor coping and comm. skills may live happily ever after.
- Stressful events- every marriage faces events that require the partner to provide support to one another and to adjust to new circumstances.
* With stressful events- couples must cope and adapt but depending on their vulnerabilities, some ppl are better equipped for this than others.
_______: when we bring surly moods home from work or school and interact with anger/frustration with our innocent partners.
Stress spillover
After the PAIR Project, Huston looked at 3 different reasons for why marriages go awry.
- Enduring dynamics- spouse bring to their marriages problems, incompatibilities and vuln. at the beginning- they start out weaker than other rs and more likely to divorce from the beginning.
- Emergent distress- The problematic behaviour that ultimately destroys a couple begin after they marry. Couples fall into a rut of conflict/neg that did not exist before.
- Disillusionment model- Couples begin their marriage with rosy/rom views that are unrealistically positive.
Of the 3 different models for the PAIR project predicting which couples would divorce- which was the the best predictor?
The disillusionment model. The drop in marital satisfaction during the first years of marriage was sharper and more pronounced in some couples that in others. Their love faded faster.
What was a pattern seen that distinguished couples who divorced before 6 years of marriage or after 7?
<6yr- usually bean their marriages with less love and more ambivalence
7yr< - Were especially affectionate and romantic when their marriages began. They were more adoring and had farther to fall.
The PAIR project made 2 conclusions.
- The size and speed of changes in romance best predict which couples will divorce
- The problems couples bring to their rs determine how quickly a divorce will occur.
(lvl of satisfaction and change in sat over time are key)
The EYM study looked at race and marriages. what was found?
16 yrs in 46% of couples had already divorced.
1/3 were white, 55% were black.
1. blacks seem to cohabitate earlier and more likely to have kids before marriage.
2. lower incomes, broken homes
3 general influence son our marital outcomes.
- Cultural context
- Personal context- social network of fam and friends
- Relational context- the enviro of the couple that is created through perceptions and interactions of the ppl
