Marital Discord and Subsequent Dissolution: Perceptions of Nepalese Wives and Husbands

Abstract

This study examines the influence of marital discord on separation and divorce in a rural South Asian setting. We know little about how marital discord influences marital outcomes in settings with low personal freedom and limited access to independence. Using a sample of 674 couples from the Chitwan Valley Family Study in Nepal, this paper investigates the impact of marital discord on the rate of marital dissolution, and the extent to which wives’ and husbands’ perceptions of discord influence dissolution. Results reveal that (a) spouses’ perceptions of marital discord increase the rate of marital dissolution, (b) both husbands’ and wives’ perceptions of discord have an important influence, and (c) the influence of wives’ perceptions of discord is independent of their husbands’ perceptions. Overall, these findings suggest that both spouses’ perceptions of discord are important for marital outcomes, even in settings where the costs of marital dissolution are relatively high.

Predictors of Marital Dissolution During a Period of Rapid Social Change: Evidence From South Asia

“…Couples may perceive less stigma in opting to dissolve their marriages than in the past and, therefore, may be less motivated to invest time in maintaining unsatisfactory marriages. Moreover, it is also possible that, as couples are becoming increasingly likely to have known each other at the time of marriage, disagreements and conflict—found to be predictive of marital dissolution in this setting (Jennings 2014)—may arise earlier on.…”

“…Second, I control for wife’s ethnicity. Because there are very few intercaste couples in the CVFS (Jennings 2014), wife’s ethnicity is generally indicative of both spouses’ ethnicity. Ethnicity is coded into four-time invariant dummy variables, indicating that they identify as Brahmin/Chhetri, Dalit, Hill indigenous, or Terai indigenous.…”

Family composition and marital dissolution in rural Nepal, 1945–2008

“…The models also accounted for the wives’ ethnicity, which is largely reflective of husbands’ ethnicity, as well (Jennings 2014). Ethnicity was a coded as four dummy variables: (i) Brahmin/Chhetri (or upper caste Hindus), (ii) Dalit (or lower caste Hindus), (iii) Hill indigenous, and (iv) Terai indigenous.…”

Spatial and Temporal Dimensions of Migration on Union Dissolution

“…It is possible that migrants are selective from unions with low marital quality. Partners in unions involving lower satisfaction or greater discord may experience both greater motivation for the husband to migrate elsewhere and greater motivation to dissolve the union (Gottman, 2014;Jennings, 2014). On the other hand, it is also possible that migrants are self-selective from unions of high marital quality, and migrate because they feel secure in the stability of their marriage.…”