When Husbands File for Divorce

Bibliographic Data

ID2587795
AuthorsRuth B Dixon (corresponding author), Lenore J Weitzman
Year1982
Volume44
Issue1
Pages103
Publication date1982-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Marriage and the Family (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-2445 • E-ISSN: 1741-3737
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/351266
OpenAlexW2007798904
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited10

One immediate consequence of the adoption of the 1970 no-fault divorce law in California was a significant increase in the percentage of husbands who filed for divorce. This paper explores the effects of a change in the law on the motivations of husbands who file for divorce. A resource model and a normative model are tested on the divorce records of couples receiving final decrees in San Francisco and Los Angeles counties in 1968 and 1972. In spite of clear theoretical expectations, husbands who filed could not be distinguished consistently on the basis of socioeconomic characteristics relating to the two models. Their motives were more clearly revealed in their requests for divorce settlements, particularly child custody, which suggests a model of self-interest in taking the initiative in divorce proceedings

Alimony · Child custody · Child support · Criminology · Demographic economics · Economics · Family law · Geography · Human settlement · Normative · Political science · Population · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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