Divorce in Minority Families Divorce

Divorce in Minority Families

Divorce has been a hot topic as well as the effects that divorce has in various family dynamics especially across ethnic boundaries. However, Studies of divorce among ethnically heterogeneous couples was rare in 1996. (Jones, 1996) a longitudinal study of marriages in Hawaii showed that the divorce rate was higher among ethnically mixed marriages compared with ethnically homogeneous ones. On the other hand, the same study found no easily discernible pattern of group differences in the relationship of intermarriage to the risk of divorce. Phillips & Sweeney (2005) conducted research-utilizing data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. The researchers wanted to understand the differences in factors associated with the probability of divorce across racial and ethnic lines. Research results indicated that there were slight variations across ethnic and racial lines. Research results expressed that non-Hispanic white women were more likely affected by premarital cohabitation to end in divorce, where these results were not shared with Black or Hispanic women. The researchers go further to report that these findings are supported in previous research conducted. The article explains that divorce regardless of race or ethnicity is higher in the United States.

Estimates indicate that 32% and 34% of all first marriages involving non-Hispanic white and Hispanic women, end in separation or divorce within the first 10 years, the figure is substantially higher for non-Hispanic black women, at 47% of all marriages.

Marital disruption i.e. divorce continues to be a major source of the growth of mother-only families (Smock, 1994), numerous studies have directly linked the event of marital disruption to women's post-disruption economic vulnerability. Perhaps the most well-known finding from this body of research is that the economic costs of marital disruption are quite unequally distributed by gender. While women typically undergo marked declines in income and measures of economic status that take family size into account, men undergo minimal income loss and even experience improvements in family size-adjusted measures of economic status. However, past studies on gender differences in the economic consequences of divorce have been limited to presenting descriptive statistics on men's and women's economic status before and after separation or divorce. There is no direct evidence on the sources of the gender disparity. In the current study, previous research was extended by investigating the bases of gender inequities in the economic impact of marital disruption. Gender differences in levels of post disruption economic welfare to key work -- and family-related characteristics were related.

The present study was designed to investigate whether ethnicity moderates the effects of divorce on young adults' retrospective reports of fathering. (Schwartz & Finley, 2005) an ethnically diverse sample of 1,989 university students completed measures of nurturing fathering, reported father involvement, and desired father involvement. Compared with participants from intact families, those from divorced families indicated lower levels of nurturing fathering and reported father involvement. These differences varied considerably by ethnicity. Reported fathering differences between participants from intact and divorced families were greatest in African-Americans, Caribbean Islanders, and foreign-born Cubans. These differences were smallest in non-Hispanic Whites and Asians. Participants from divorced families reported greater-levels of desired father involvement than did participants from intact families. These differences were not moderated by ethnicity.

These researchers utilized panel data from 9,252 adolescents in the National Education Longitudinal Study, this study finds that among children who experience parents' marital disruption during late adolescence, European, Asian, and African-American adolescents exhibit wider and greater maladjustment both before and after the disruption than their Hispanic-American counterparts. This finding lends general support to the researcher's hypothesis of prevalence of disadvantages, although it is less consistent with the hypothesis of prevalence of divorce. Moreover, whereas Asian-American adolescents in pre-disrupted families are more vulnerable to a shortage of family social resources, their African-American peers are affected more by a shortage of financial / human resources. Finally, post-disruption effects on non-Hispanic-American adolescents are either completely or partially attributable to pre-disruption factors. (Sun & Li, 2007)

In the Virginia Longitudinal Study of Divorce and Remarriage (VLSDR) and in the American population two out of three divorces are initiated by women (Hetherington, 2003), it is not surprising that women's reports of problems in their marriages are better predictors of divorce than are men's, and that women see more problems in their marriages. On average across all waves in the VLSDR, about 30% of women reported that there had been a serious problem in their marriage in the last year, versus less than 10% of men. Further, women's psychological and health problems in the five marital types decreased in accord with the family types' risk for marital instability. Physical, psychological, and general well-being and marital satisfaction in women were lowest in pursuer-distance and disengaged marriages, and then were significantly greater in operatic marriages, and greater again in cohesive/individuated marriages and traditional marriages. In fact, women in pursuer-distance marriages showed more health, alcohol, and emotional problems such as depression, anxiety, and irritability while married than they did 2 years after the marital breakup, although they were financially less well off. For men, only the pursuer-distance marriage is differentiated from the other four in terms of the husband being lower in general well-being and marital satisfaction and being higher in antisocial behavior, depression, and health problems and these differences are smaller than those found for women. The biggest differences in adjustment for men lay in being married or not married, rather than in the type of marriage.

Coleman, Ganong, & Rothrauff (2006) confirm that little is known about how changes in family structure because of divorce and remarriage affect beliefs about intergenerational assistance among people from diverse racial and ethnic groups the researcher's hypothesis that there are in fact differences between White European-Americans and other ethnic groups. European-Americans are more likely to divorce and remarry than members of other race and ethnic groups, with the exception of African-Americans, who are more likely to divorce but less likely to remarry they state in the research conducted. These demographic differences suggest that people from different ethnic groups have varying levels of personal experience with divorce and remarriage. Research was conducted in order to determine and specify the differences in beliefs among Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and White European-Americans. Quantitative and qualitative data was utilized in order to analyze data collected.

This research (Hetherington, 2003) presents findings from the (VLSDR) describing diverse patterns of intimate relationships and personal adjustment in marriage and following divorce. Both a conflict filled, unsatisfying marriage and a divorce were associated with diminished psychological, social, and physical well-being. However, it was the diversity rather than the inevitability of outcomes following divorce that was striking, with most people able to adapt constructively to their new life situation within 2-3 years following divorce, a minority being defeated by the marital breakup, and a substantial group of women being enhanced. Although both marital conflict and divorce in the family of origin elevated the risk of marital instability in young adult offspring, the effect was greater for divorce. Marriage to a supportive, well-adjusted partner by youths from divorced families eliminated the difference in marital instability found for these youths and those from non-divorced families.

By using register data for the entire Norwegian population aged 50-89 in the period 1980-1999, during which there were about 720,000 deaths, Kravdal (2007) estimates how the proportions of persons who were divorced or never married in the municipality affected all-cause mortality, net of individual marital status. The data include individual histories of changes in marital status and places of residence; this provided an opportunity to enter municipality fixed effects into the model, thereby capturing the time-invariant unobserved factors at that level. The positive health externality of marriage that is suggested in the literature is supported by some of the estimates for women, other estimates-especially those for men-point in the opposite direction. One possible interpretation of these findings is that social cohesion is perhaps not as beneficial for people's health as often claimed, at least not for both sexes. Alternatively, the results may reflect that marriage perhaps undermines rather than strengthens social cohesion, or that other mechanisms are involved-for example, those that are related to people's perceptions of their health relative to the health of others. Estimates from models without such municipality fixed effects are markedly different, but these also shed doubt on the notion that a high proportion of unmarried persons generally increase individual mortality.

A handful of studies relating to ethnic divorce patterns exist, all rather descriptive Jones (1996) states. Reported divorce rates in the Federal Republic of Germany, showing that, apart from marriages between German women and Turkish or Yugoslav men, mixed marriages were no more likely to end in divorce than ethnically homogeneous marriages. In the United States, a 10% sample of 1977 divorces in California focused on interracial marriages. They found differences only in marriages between Black men and White women. According to their results, such marriages had rather short durations compared with other types of marriages. The median duration to final decree of these mixed marriages was 58.5 months, compared with a median of 80 months or longer for marriages between Black women and White men, and for racially homogeneous marriages. (Coleman et al., 2006) there are more significant differences between race and ethnic groups in beliefs about intergenerational assistance than are expected by chance the differences are not large. As expected, White European-Americans perceive that less help should be given to older adults than is true of African-Americans and Asian-Americans. Unexpectedly, European-Americans and Latinos rarely differ in their beliefs about intergenerational assistance. When differences exist among the three minority groups, it is typically because African-Americans and Asian-Americans perceive that more help should be given to older family members than Latinos. The family plays a unique role in forming and sustaining intimate relationships; however, there have been notable changes in the family in the past 50 years. As marriages are being delayed, birth rates are decreasing, and maternal employment, divorce, cohabitation, and births to single mothers are increasing, the course of intimate relationships is becoming more diverse and less stable and predictable. (Hetherington, 2003)

Although marriage has been associated with a number of positive benefits (e.g., health, income, child achievement), it appears that maintaining a marriage is a difficult task for many Americans. Analyses of data from the National Survey of Family Growth revealed that 20% of first marriages end in divorce within 5 years, 33% end within 10 years, and 43% of marriages break up within 15 years of marriage (Bramlett & Mosher, 2001). Although the rates of marital dissolution are high for all ethnic groups, the rates among African-Americans compared with European-Americans are even more pronounced. For example, whereas 32% of European-American marriages end within 10 years, 47% of African-American marriages do so within this same period. Coupled with the high divorce rates among African-Americans is the fact that African-Americans are less likely to enter into marital relationships than are European-Americans, which makes their marriages less normative and more fragile. Thus, marital researchers need to understand marriage within the context of race. (Goodwin, 2003)

As evidenced by marriage and divorce statistics, race definitely appears to affect how one experiences and maintains marriage. However, very few studies have fully explored the effects of race in marriage. The majority of studies on marriage have been conducted using racially homogenous samples consisting mainly of European-Americans from which findings are generalized to the entire American population (Bean, Crane, & Lewis, 2002; McLoyd, Cauce, Takeuchi, & Wilson, 2000). By conducting research on racially homogeneous samples and generalizing the findings, researchers assume that factors explaining European-American marriages are the same as those explaining African-American marriages.

Studies have begun to emerge, however, that suggest that African-Americans may conceptualize marriage differently from European-Americans. For example, Veroff, Douvan, and Hatchett (1995) concluded that "Black couples interpret their marital experiences in the context of their social worlds, their communities and kin, their economic situations, all within a backdrop of institutional racism" (p. xii). Other researchers have also found evidence of the effects of race and ethnicity on marital experiences. For example, Chadiha, Veroff, and Leber (1998) found that African-American couples were more likely to focus on couple relations and religion when interpreting their newlywed experience, whereas European-American couples were more likely to focus attention on achievement and work themes. Researchers have found that factors that appear to be common to both African-American and European-American marriages are often manifested in very different ways. For instance, having a supportive wife was found to be a benefit to the stability of both African-American and European-American marriages. For European-American marriages, however, having a supportive wife meant having a wife who was cooperative, whereas for African-American marriages it meant having a wife who was collaborative (Goodwin, 2003; Orbuch, Veroff, & Hunter, 1999).