Chapter 9 Flashcards
(32 cards)
1
Q
Divorce historically
A
- Not a new concept, started over 3000 years ago
- Historically, divorces were rare and were granted only to men
- Only 5 divorce acts were passed in Canada prior to confederation in 1867
- Until 1968 the only common grounds for a divorce were adultery or seven years of desertion -> person would have to petition the government for an Act of Divorce placing it publicly in the Canada Gazette as well as two local newspapers. This remained in the paper for a 6-month period
- Only eleven divorces registered in 1900 in Canada
2
Q
Divorce Act of 1968
A
- Granted divorce for couples who had experienced marital breakdown and been separated for 3 years
- The number of divorces between 1968 and 1970 almost doubled
3
Q
Divorce Act of 1985
A
- Reduced waiting period from 3 years to 1
- In theory you can get divorced in 60 days, but it usually takes much longer
4
Q
What has made divorce normative?
A
- Social changes over the past 100 years, like…
- Secularization and modernization
- Increased rate of women in paid workforce reduce their economic dependency
5
Q
What’s causing divorce?
A
- Macrostructural influences
- Life course and demographics
- Family processes
6
Q
Macrostructural influences
A
- Legislative changes – no-fault divorce laws
- Decreasing importance of family
- Women’s increased labour force participation
7
Q
Life course and demographics
A
- More complex family forms and secondary marriages at greater risk
- Cohabitation, premarital pregnancy, age at marriage (strongest predictor)
- Having a child reduces likelihood of divorce (especially if the child was a son rather than a daughter)
8
Q
Family processes
A
- Rational choice/exchange theory approach: couples with high cost of divorce (because of kids) with low alternatives (because of age or employment) are less likely to divorce
- More family income = less divorce; more female employment = more divorce
- Parental divorce
9
Q
risk factors for divorce
A
- Race (different races have different cultural expectations for marriage, family forms, etc.)
- Age at marriage (people under 21 have higher risk factors because there’s a huge shift between 18-24 -> you grow as a person, want different things, etc.)
- Education (the more education you have, the less risk -> if you have a degree, you’ll likely be marrying older, have higher SES, are exposed to more diversity, have better critical thinking skills, etc.)
- Premarital births and conception (having a baby accidentally and then deciding to get married = higher risk)
- Religion and parental divorce (religious people less likely to divorce; people with divorced parents higher risk)
10
Q
Amato discovered higher risk for
A
- Marrying before age 20
- Low SES
- Periods of unemployment
- Cohabitation
- Premarital birth
- Stepchildren
- Interracial marriage
- Second and higher order marriages
11
Q
DVFM (divorce variation and fluidity model)
A
- describes diversity of pathways in and out of divorce
- states that factors like gender, race, cultural values, economic conditions, and the socio-cultural and legal contexts are all part of the ecosystem people face during divorce, with risk factors and protective factors influencing the adjustment of those affected
12
Q
effects of divorce on children
A
- Children of divorced parents scored lower on social, emotional, health, and academic outcome measures when compared to children of continuously married parents
- adolescents of divorced parents report double the level of distress when compared to adolescents of intact and non-distressed parents
- Early parental divorce has more negative effects on kids’ behaviour than parents who divorce later on in life, but later divorces have more negative effects on kids’ academic performance
13
Q
effects of divorce on adult children
A
- Adult children of divorced parents are more likely to:
- Attain less education
- Have lower psychological wellbeing
- Are more likely to have troubles in their own marriages
- Are at greater risk of divorcing
14
Q
effects of divorce on the individuals
A
- when compared to married people, divorced people exhibit…
- More symptoms of depression and anxiety
- More health problems
- More substance use (as a coping mechanism)
- Greater risk of death (increase in risky behaviour)
15
Q
protective factors against negative effects
A
- Children show little negative affect and may even show improvement if divorce ends a high conflict marriage
- Quality of pre- and post-divorce parental relationship is most important factor in mediating long-term affects of divorce on kids and teens
- Stability for children has been shown to mitigate negative child outcomes (divorce involves a series of transitions, but goal is to minimize transitions for the child in order to have best outcomes)
16
Q
5 typologies of divorce
A
- Perfect pals: still good friends, do everything together, etc.
- Cooperative colleagues: not great friends, but support each other’s parenting, have same rules in both households, etc.
- Angry associates: not a huge fan of other parent, try to get along but do say negative things in front of kids
- Fiery foes: high conflict continues post-divorce, bring kids into conflict
- Dissolved duo: one parent is not present in parenting anymore (better outcomes than being fiery foes)
17
Q
re-marriage and re-partnering
A
- After divorce, most people re-partner, and most do it quickly (only 10% actually re-marry, but 69% of divorced women and 82% of divorced men re-partner)
- Remarried couples are both less likely to communicate in both a positive and negative fashion than first married couples, and are more likely to withdraw in conflict
- Remarried couples tend to be more egalitarian and more autonomous in decision making about finances and childrearing
- Second and higher order marriages tend to be less stable (40% of second marriages divorce vs. 32% of first marriages)
18
Q
step and blended families
A
- “Incomplete institution”: unscripted norms and pathways throughout the life course -> no clear guidelines of who is supposed to do what/how the family will function
- Stepfamilies in which a child is born into have better odds of remaining together as do stepmother families
- Children raised in stepfamilies do not fare as well as living with 2 biological parents with respect to numerous areas of social development (but these differences are modest)
19
Q
where is further research needed?
A
- Cohabiting family arrangement
- Roles and influences of step-grandparents
- Step-grandchildren and same-sex parents
20
Q
no-fault divorce
A
divorce in which one party’s actions aren’t solely responsible for the divorce (ie. Not because your partner cheated on you). Irreconcilable differences are often at fault for this type of divorce
21
Q
what reduces risk of divorce?
A
- Having an annual income higher than $50,000
- Marrying after age 25
- Having parents who are happy in their marriage
- Having strong religious beliefs
- Being college-educated
22
Q
ecological correlates of divorce
A
- micro-sociological causes
- meso-sociological causes
- macro-sociological causes
23
Q
micro-sociological causes
A
- Individual issues (Alcohol/drug addiction, infidelity, incompatibility, abuse, financial disagreements)
- Dynamics of relationship (poor communication and conflict resolution skills, lack of commitment, perceived inequality)
24
Q
meso-sociological causes
A
- Age at marriage (strongest predictor of divorce in first 5 years)
- Cohabitation (people who cohabit have lower commitment to marriage)
- Second marriage (stress of remarriage, negative interactions with stepchildren)
- Parental divorce (less likely to believe that marriage will last since their parents’ didn’t)
- Childbearing (getting married to legitimize child, having no kids or lots of kids increases divorce rate, sons reduce divorce rate)
- Stage of marriage (longer duration = lower divorce rate)
- Place of residence (urban has greater divorce rate than rural)
- Religion (religious people have less divorce)
- Socioeconomic status (poor people have higher divorce)
25
macro-sociological causes
- War (seperates couples)
- Economy (less likely to divorce during recession)
- Sex ratios (rate of alternatives affects divorce rate)
- Gender expectation (divorce rates increase with women's economic independence, egalitarian couples less likely to divorce)
- Social integration (higher social integration = less divorce)
- Legislation (no-fault and unilateral divorce laws increase divorce rate)
26
4 ways to calculate divorce rates
- Divorces per marriage
- Crude divorce rate
- Cohort ever-married divorce rate
- Refined divorce rate
27
divorces per marriage
- number of divorces in year X divided by number of marriages in year X
- Simple, yet overestimates actual divorce rate because denominator is a smaller set of people than are actually at risk for divorce
28
crude divorce rate
- number of divorces in year X divided by mid-year population in year X
- Simple, yet conservative because it calculates divorce at a mid-year population and included people who aren't at risk of divorce (such as kids and single/widowed people)
29
cohort ever-married divorce rate
- number of first divorces among those born in year X divided by number of ever-married persons born in year X
- Gives an accurate historical account of a group of people born in the same year, yet its data can't be generalized to general population and rate will change depending on year it was calculated (the longer the time, the greater likelihood divorce will occur)
30
refined divorce rate
- number of divorces in year X divided by number of currently married in population in year X
- Very accurate, yet difficult to calculate since data is hard to gather
31
divorce in Canada
- 4 in 10 marriages end in divorce
- For the first time in Canadian history, the number of unmarried people outnumbers the number of legally married people and there were more couples without children than with children
- Newfoundland and Labrador have lowest rate of divorce and highest rate of marriage, while Quebec has highest rate of divorce and lowest rate of marriage
- Common-law families are growing faster than any other type of family
32
top 5 reasons people divorce
1. Different values/interests
2. Abuse
3. Alcohol/drugs
4. Infidelity
5. Career-related conflict
