The Marriages and Divorces of the Children of Divorce

Abstract

The effect of parental divorce on the divorce-proneness of offspring was estimated separately for white males white females black males and black females through analysis of pooled data from eleven U.S. national surveys conducted from 1973 to 1985. The estimated effect for white females was substantial and statistically significant but any effects in the other race-sex categories appear to have been moderate. Early marriage among children of divorce level of commitment to marriage and other factors related to the intergenerational transmission of the tendency to divorce are discussed. (EXCERPT)