The Impact of Age and Children on Remarriage

Abstract

"This article addresses the impact age and presence/number of children have on the remarriage probabilities of divorced women [in the United States]. Following Koo and Suchindran..., an interaction between these two factors is posited, with children having an effect on the remarriage chances only of younger and older women. In addition, a third factor, dissolution measurement, is considered because remarriage intervals measured from separation and from divorce can be quite different." The data are from the 1973 National Survey of Family Growth. "Analyses conducted separately by race indicate that (1) dissolution measurement can make a difference in the estimated effect of both age and presence/number of children on remarriage probabilities for both blacks and whites, (2) net of numerous controls, older women and women with more children of both races tend to remarry at the slowest pace, and (3) age and presence/number of children interact for whites but not for blacks."