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Growing More Equal and Growing Apart? Socioeconomic Status and the Rise of Divorce in Sweden

Sandström, Glenn and Stanfors, Maria LU (2020) In Lund Papers in Economic Demography (LPED)
Abstract
A negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and divorce has been established for most Western nations after 1960, yet we know little about this relationship further back in time when divorce was rare. In low divorce contexts, we expect a positive association between SES and divorce because higher social strata are better equipped to overcome barriers to divorce. According to socioeconomic growth theory, this relationship reverses with
industrialization and modernization since the economic and normative barriers to divorce diminish for many. We investigate SES and other micro-level determinants of divorce among men and women in Sweden, 1880-1960, making use of longitudinal data from parish registers covering Västerbotten... (More)
A negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and divorce has been established for most Western nations after 1960, yet we know little about this relationship further back in time when divorce was rare. In low divorce contexts, we expect a positive association between SES and divorce because higher social strata are better equipped to overcome barriers to divorce. According to socioeconomic growth theory, this relationship reverses with
industrialization and modernization since the economic and normative barriers to divorce diminish for many. We investigate SES and other micro-level determinants of divorce among men and women in Sweden, 1880-1960, making use of longitudinal data from parish registers covering Västerbotten County. Results confirm a positive association between SES and divorce, which shifted to a negative association among couples who divorced from the mid-1930s onwards. This reversal resulted in an increase in the divorce rate as it extended to broader layers of the population. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
socioeconomic status (SES), divorce, Sweden, modernization, female independence, event history analysis
in
Lund Papers in Economic Demography (LPED)
issue
2020:4
pages
46 pages
project
A century of divorce. Economic change and union dissolution in Sweden, 1915–2015
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c4d0c6a1-1d5d-421d-b963-19946d830ff0
alternative location
https://www.ed.lu.se/media/ed/papers/working_papers/LPED_2020_4.pdf
date added to LUP
2020-04-27 11:10:31
date last changed
2022-09-01 18:33:13
@misc{c4d0c6a1-1d5d-421d-b963-19946d830ff0,
  abstract     = {{A negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and divorce has been established for most Western nations after 1960, yet we know little about this relationship further back in time when divorce was rare. In low divorce contexts, we expect a positive association between SES and divorce because higher social strata are better equipped to overcome barriers to divorce. According to socioeconomic growth theory, this relationship reverses with <br/>industrialization and modernization since the economic and normative barriers to divorce diminish for many. We investigate SES and other micro-level determinants of divorce among men and women in Sweden, 1880-1960, making use of longitudinal data from parish registers covering Västerbotten County. Results confirm a positive association between SES and divorce, which shifted to a negative association among couples who divorced from the mid-1930s onwards. This reversal resulted in an increase in the divorce rate as it extended to broader layers of the population.}},
  author       = {{Sandström, Glenn and Stanfors, Maria}},
  keywords     = {{socioeconomic status (SES); divorce; Sweden; modernization; female  independence; event history analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2020:4}},
  series       = {{Lund Papers in Economic Demography (LPED)}},
  title        = {{Growing More Equal and Growing Apart? Socioeconomic Status and the Rise of Divorce in Sweden}},
  url          = {{https://www.ed.lu.se/media/ed/papers/working_papers/LPED_2020_4.pdf}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}