Marital dissolution, remarriage, and childbearing

Bibliographic Data

ID10970367
AuthorsArland Thornton (0000-0002-1607-2047, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106, corresponding author)
Year1978
Volume15
Issue3
Pages361-380
Publication date1978-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0070-3370 • E-ISSN: 1533-7790
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/2060656
PMID700230
OpenAlexW1968897019
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited34

Earlier models of fertility hypothesize that marital dissolution and remarriage influence subsequent childbearing. This issue is examined by comparing the fertility of those in disrupted marriages with that of those in stable marriages. The results indicate that, by transferring women into a nonmarried status, marital dissolution decreases childbearing. The data also suggest that discord reduces fertility even before separation occurs—separated women had reduced fertility during the two years just before separation. It was found that marital dissolution without remarriage operates to truncate childbearing, thus decreasing family size. Dissolution followed by remarriage, however, lengthens the childbearing span of whites and has no influence on average family size; remarrying white women are able to make up for the childbearing lost between marriages. For nonwhites, we found that dissolution and remarriage increase the average time to childbirth, but, even more importantly, these events greatly decrease the number of children born

Demographic economics · Dissolution · Economics · Fertility · Marital status · Population · Remarriage · Sociology · Chemistry · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology

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