Who Divorces Whom: Unilateral Divorce Legislation and the Educational Structure of Marriage

The introduction of unilateral divorce legislation (UDL) starting in the late 1960s led to spikes in U.S. divorce rates. We ask whether making divorce easier affected the educational structure of marriage. Using marriage and divorce certificate data covering 1970–1988, we provide new evidence on the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Demography 2024-08, Vol.61 (4), p.1097-1116
Main Authors: Afunts, Geghetsik, Jurajda, Stepan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Couples
Divorce
Economics
Education
Legislation
Marriage
Newlyweds
Population Studies
Sociology
Wives
Women
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Summary:The introduction of unilateral divorce legislation (UDL) starting in the late 1960s led to spikes in U.S. divorce rates. We ask whether making divorce easier affected the educational structure of marriage. Using marriage and divorce certificate data covering 1970–1988, we provide new evidence on the evolution of the educational structure of marriage inflows (newlyweds) and outflows (divorces). Next, we leverage the timing of UDL introduction across states to estimate its effects on both flows. We find that UDL affected the educational structure of divorce but not of new marriages: it made generally unstable hypogamous couples (women married to less educated partners) less likely to divorce and made homogamous couples more stable than hypergamous ones (women married to more educated partners).
ISSN:0070-3370
1533-7790
1533-7790
DOI:10.1215/00703370-11462868