IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v49y2023i23.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do couples who use fertility treatments divorce more? Evidence from the US National Survey of Family Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Barbuscia

    (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (University of the Basque Country))

  • Maria Sironi

    (University College London (UCL))

Abstract

Background: Undertaking fertility treatment is a stressful process and may lead to couple instability, but high levels of couple satisfaction have usually been observed during or just after treatment. However, the evidence on divorce is scarce. Objective: We investigated the association between the use of a wide range of fertility treatments and marital dissolution in a representative sample of American women in their first marriage. Methods: We applied discrete-time event history analysis to data from the US National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), collected from 2002 through 2013‒2015, to compare divorce rates among women who experienced successful treatments or unsuccessful treatments and a natural birth or no birth within the marriage (N = 13,784). Results: Women who used fertility treatments had a lower risk of divorce up to 20 years after the marriage, compared to the other groups. The probability was especially low when the treatment was successful, but women who did not conceive after the treatment also showed a lower risk of divorce. Conclusions: We found evidence that undertaking fertility treatment is associated with a lower risk of divorce, suggesting that it might strengthen couples’ relationships. The sociodemographic characteristics of couples undertaking treatment partly explained the association, but we were not able to control for the quality of the relationship before the treatment, which is likely to play a role. Contribution: Our study contributes to knowledge about the consequences of fertility treatment by comparing the long-term risk of divorce of women who have experienced successful and unsuccessful treatments, childless women, and those who have had a natural birth. Furthermore, it is the first to examine this in the US context.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Barbuscia & Maria Sironi, 2023. "Do couples who use fertility treatments divorce more? Evidence from the US National Survey of Family Growth," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 49(23), pages 601-634.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:49:y:2023:i:23
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2023.49.23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol49/23/49-23.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2023.49.23?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gunnar Andersson, 1997. "The Impact of Children on Divorce Risks of Swedish Women," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 13(2), pages 109-145, June.
    2. Steffen Reinhold, 2010. "Reassessing the link between premarital cohabitation and marital instability," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(3), pages 719-733, August.
    3. Jay Teachman, 2002. "Stability across cohorts in divorce risk factors," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(2), pages 331-351, May.
    4. Lee Lillard & Linda Waite, 1993. "A joint model of marital childbearing and marital disruption," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 30(4), pages 653-681, November.
    5. Marika Jalovaara, 2003. "The joint effects of marriage partners’ socioeconomic positions on the risk of divorce," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(1), pages 67-81, February.
    6. Torkild Hovde Lyngstad & Marika Jalovaara, 2010. "A review of the antecedents of union dissolution," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 23(10), pages 257-292.
    7. Rene Boheim & John Ermisch, 2001. "Partnership Dissolution in the UK – the Role of Economic Circumstances," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(2), pages 197-208, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elina Vinberg & Rannveig Kaldager Hart & Torkild H. Lyngstad, 2015. "Increasingly stable or more stressful? Children and union dissolution across four decades Evidence from Norway," Discussion Papers 814, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    2. Laura Cavalli & Alessandro Bucciol & Paolo Pertile & Veronica Polin & Nicola Sartor & Alessandro Sommacal, 2012. "Modelling life-course decisions for the analysis of interpersonal and intrapersonal redistribution," Working Papers 25/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    3. Christine Schnor, 2014. "The Effect of Union Status at First Childbirth on Union Stability: Evidence from Eastern and Western Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(2), pages 129-160, May.
    4. Lindsay Theunis & Christine Schnor & Didier Willaert & Jan Van Bavel, 2018. "His and Her Education and Marital Dissolution: Adding a Contextual Dimension," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(4), pages 663-687, October.
    5. Liat Raz-Yurovich, 2012. "Economic Determinants of Divorce Among Dual-Earner Couples: Jews in Israel [Les déterminants économiques du divorce parmi les couples à double revenu : le cas des juifs en Israël]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 177-203, May.
    6. Anna Matysiak & Marta Styrc & Daniele Vignoli, 2011. "The changing educational gradient in marital disruption: A meta-analysis of European longitudinal research," Working Papers 45, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.
    7. Lehrer, Evelyn L. & Chen, Yu, 2012. "Delayed Entry into First Marriage: Further Evidence on the Becker-Landes-Michael Hypothesis," IZA Discussion Papers 6729, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Guiping Liu & Andres Vikat, 2004. "Does divorce risk depend on spouses´ relative income? A register-based study of first marriages in Sweden in 1981–1998," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2004-010, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    9. Marcus Eliason, 2012. "Lost jobs, broken marriages," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 1365-1397, October.
    10. Maria Winkler-Dworak & Eva Beaujouan & Paola Di Giulio & Martin Spielauer, 2019. "Simulating Family Life Courses: An Application for Italy, Great Britain, and Scandinavia," VID Working Papers 1908, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    11. Evelyn Lehrer & Yu Chen, 2013. "Delayed entry into first marriage and marital stability," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(20), pages 521-542.
    12. Victoria Maleeva & Majlinda Joxhe & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2020. "Poverty in Russia: the Role of the Marital Status and Gender," DEM Discussion Paper Series 20-16, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    13. Svarer, Michael & Verner, Mette, "undated". "Do Children Stabilize Marriages?," Economics Working Papers 2003-3, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    14. Rannveig Kaldager Hart, 2019. "Union Histories of Dissolution: What Can They Say About Childlessness?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(1), pages 101-131, February.
    15. Maria Winkler-Dworak & Eva Beaujouan & Paola Di Giulio & Martin Spielauer, 2021. "Simulating family life courses: An application for Italy, Great Britain, Norway, and Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(1), pages 1-48.
    16. Rebecca Kippen & Bruce Chapman & Peng Yu, 2010. "What's love got to do with it? Homogamy and dyadic approaches to understanding marital instability," CEPR Discussion Papers 631, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    17. Bellido, Héctor & Molina, José Alberto & Solaz, Anne & Stancanelli, Elena, 2016. "Do children of the first marriage deter divorce?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 15-31.
    18. Lorenzo Todesco, 2011. "A Matter of Number, Age or Marriage? Children and Marital Dissolution in Italy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(2), pages 313-332, April.
    19. Daniele Vignoli & Anna Matysiak & Marta Styrc & Valentina Tocchioni, 2018. "The positive impact of women’s employment on divorce: Context, selection, or anticipation?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(37), pages 1059-1110.
    20. Amit Kaplan & Anat Herbst-Debby, 2018. "Fragile Employment, Liquid Love: Employment Instability and Divorce in Israel," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(1), pages 1-31, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    divorce; childbirth; fertility treatments; socioeconomic determinants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:49:y:2023:i:23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.