Gender norms and partnership dissolution following involuntary job loss in Germany
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24224865 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rishabh Tyagi (0000-0001-9080-5790), Peter Eibich (0000-0002-0689-0302), Vegard Skirbekk (0000-0002-1647-3246) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Genus (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-6987 • E-ISSN: 2035-5556 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1186/s41118-026-00294-3 |
| OpenAlex | W4402346923 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 49 |
Job loss is an involuntary, disruptive life event with adverse effects on a person’s health, finances, and family outcomes. Previous research on the link between job loss and union dissolution has revealed gender-specific patterns. Existing gender norms may also moderate the relationship between job loss and separation risk. The life course theory suggests that men socialised in a stronger male-breadwinner norms regime would have a higher risk of union dissolution following job loss than men socialised in a weaker male-breadwinner norms regime. Also, men with egalitarian gender roles who contribute time equally to family needs alongside their partners have higher relationship satisfaction. We study the impact of involuntary job loss due to plant closures and dismissals on marital dissolution (divorce or separation) using the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (1984–2019) by employing event study analyses. We further analyse how regional gender norms (proxied by men residing in East vs. West Germany in 1989) and individual-level gender role attitudes for men, as reflected in their share of home production activities in the couple over the years, moderate this relationship. We find that the risk of union dissolution increases by 1.8 ppts (a 180% increase in relative terms) in the year of job loss for the treatment group compared to the control group, likely driven by couples in unstable relationships, for whom the stress caused by job loss is the decisive factor leading to a dissolution. This effect is mediated by males’ share in home production activities over the years and household income in the year of job loss, which is consistent with the economic hardship mechanism. There are no moderation effects by regional gender norms or gender role attitudes for the increased risk of union dissolution following job loss. The absence of significant moderation by regional gender norms—contrary to predictions from life course theory and gender identity theory—may reflect that the stigma of divorce is greater in West Germany, with stronger male-breadwinner norms, and the convergence of gender norms across East and West Germany in the decades since reunification.
Dismissal · Divorce · East and West Germany · economic hardship · gender norms · gender role attitudes · German reunification · Household income · household production · involuntary job loss · life course perspective · plant closures · relationship satisfaction · separation · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality
Examining the Relationship Between Financial Issues and Divorce
Inference on Treatment Effects after Selection among High-Dimensional Controls
Housework over the course of relationships
The role of stress on close relationships and marital satisfaction
The theory of planned behavior
Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects
Socialist Modern
Politico-Economic Regimes and Attitudes
The effect of unemployment on couples separating in Germany and the UK
A review of the antecedents of union dissolution
Health Effects of Involuntary Job Loss Among Older Workers
Political regimes and the family
The impact of job loss on family dissolution
Unemployment and marital dissolution
Approval of equal rights and gender differences in well-being
Men’s (Mis)Perceptions of the Gender Threatening Consequences of Unemployment
The Influence of Men’s Income and Employment on Marriage and Cohabitation
The Gendered Relationship Between (Old and New Forms of) Employment Instability and Union Dissolution
What Tears Couples Apart
The joint effects of marriage partners’ socioeconomic positions on the risk of divorce
Does Job Loss Make You Smoke and Gain Weight
The Life Course as Developmental Theory
Marriage and Masculinity
High-Dimensional Methods and Inference on Structural and Treatment Effects
The division of housework and childcare from a dyadic perspective
Linking Economic Hardship to Marital Quality and Instability
Fathers' Changing Contributions to Child Care and Domestic Work in Very Low-Fertility Countries
How Work Affects Divorce
The Far-Reaching Impact of Job Loss and Unemployment
Unemployment, gender and mental health
Grateful slaves and self-made women
Unemployment and Marital Dissolution
The female-breadwinner well-being 'penalty
Double Trouble
The Religiously Unaffiliated in Germany, 1949-2013
Unemployment scarring by gender
| Highly cited | No |
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