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

Abstract

Few studies have examined the causes and consequences of marital dissolution in non-Western settings. This article explores the fundamental factors that may predict marital dissolution in a mainly agrarian setting in South Asia, where collectivism has historically been valued over individualism and where life is centered on the family. Using event history analyses with retrospective life history data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study, conducted in rural Nepal, I explore the possible predictors of marital dissolution. Results suggest that couples in which wives married at older ages and chose their spouse in conjunction with their parents face lower risk of marital dissolution, while wives’ work increases the risk. Moreover, couples married for longer durations and couples who have more children face lower risks of marital dissolution. The influences of many of these factors have changed over the last few decades, pointing toward the important role of changing social context on marital trajectories.

Divorce and separation in the Philippines: Trends and correlates

“…One of the enduring findings in studies of the determinants of divorce is the significant role of age at marriage (Carmichael 1988;Alam, Saha, and van Ginneken 2000;Heaton, Cammack, and Young 2001;Hirschman and Teerawichitchainan 2003;Teerawichitchainan 2004;Jennings 2016). Individuals who marry at a young age are more likely to divorce because they are less mature and less knowledgeable, are still caught up in the rapid changes that they go through in their adolescent years, and spend less time searching for compatible partners (Booth and Edwards 1985;South and Spitze 1986;Thornton and Rogers 1987).…”

“…Other determinants of marital dissolution that have been examined in previous studies (but will not be investigated here due to data limitations) include female employment, age differences between spouses, presence of children, marital duration, and previous history of marital breakdown (Alam, Saha, and van Ginneken 2000;Bhuiya et al 2005;Dommaraju 2016;Jennings 2016).…”

“…Highly educated women in the Philippines tend to be active in the labour force and to have the economic independence to separate from their husbands, either formally or informally, when a marriage becomes unbearable. Women with higher levels of education may also perceive themselves as financially self-reliant, thereby increasing the likelihood of union dissolution (Jennings 2016).…”

Childlessness, sex composition of children, and divorce risks in China

“…Nonetheless, empirical findings, mostly for developed societies, frequently and consistently show that childless couples are more likely to divorce than couples with children (Andersson 1997;Jennings 2016;Odimegwu, Akinyemi, and De Wet 2017;Toulemon 1995;Waite and Lillard 1991). Evidence from Sweden shows that compared to the divorce risk of women with one child, the divorce risk of childless women is more than double, whereas the risk for women with two children is approximately 50% lower (Andersson 1997).…”

“…The protective effect of children on marriage stability is also observed in developing societies. In Nepal, for example, with each additional child, couples' likelihood of divorce decreases by approximately 50% (Jennings 2016).…”