Content area
Abstract
The object of this study is to analyze and explain the effects of parental divorce and the resulting living arrangements on the timing and occurrence of first sexual intercourse, premarital pregnancy and birth, entry into marriage, and marital dissolution. Women who lived with two natural parents during early adolescence are compared with women whose parents were divorced and who lived with mother only, father only, or mother and stepfather following the divorce. A comprehensive review of previous studies concerned with these associations as well as with explanations for them is included.
The data used in the analysis come from the nationally representative 1982 National Survey of Family Growth, from which a sample of 4,500 white women was selected. The methodology employed consists mainly of proportional hazards models estimated with a partial likelihood procedure.
The results of multivariate hazard models that control for socioeconomic variables show that women living in post-divorce families maintained by a single mother or a single father: (1) experience first sexual intercourse significantly earlier than those living with both natural parents; (2) are more likely to have a premarital pregnancy and birth; (3) are slightly more likely to enter first marriage as a teenager; (4) have a higher rate of marital dissolution themselves.
It is shown that the differences in the timing and occurrence of premarital pregnancy and premarital birth among women growing up in different types of families can be accounted for by measuring exposure from the time of first sexual intercourse, which acts as an important intervening variable. Differences in teenage marriage can be accounted for by including the occurrence of premarital pregnancy and birth as covariates. Such a life course perspective, however, cannot fully explain differences in marital dissolution, although it is shown to be more powerful than any of the other explanations proposed for the "intergeneration transmission" of divorce.
The dissertation concludes with suggestions for future research in this area.
