De instabiliteit van huwelijken en samenwoonrelaties in Nederland

Samenvatting

This article addresses the question of whether sociological factors have an influence on the instability of relations. Instability was measured with several questions, ranging from questions about thinking of and discussing divorce to questions about thoughts of alternative partners. Using data on 1468 cohabitating and married couples, we found that only 3% of the partners talk with friends about divorce, while about 15% think of alternative partners. On the basis of earlier divorce literature, we distinguished four categories of sociological determinants of instability: factors related to (a) search behavior, (b) division of labor in the household, (c) social and cultural heterogamy, and (d) socialization in the parental home. Multivariate analyses showed that sociological factors do indeed affect the instability of relationships. First, the relatively instable relations of couples marrying young, and couples marrying because of a premarital pregnancy showed that a longer search period increases marital stability. Second, a traditional division of labor makes relations more stable, as is shown by the effects of wife's employment, her potential income and husband's unemployment on marital instability. Third, couples heterogamous with respect to education and social background were somewhat less stable than homogenous couples. Finally, Less traditional couples and couples whose parents were divorced had instable relations compared to other couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Mens en Maatschappij is the property of Amsterdam University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)