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Association of Divorce with Socio-Demographic Covariates in China, 1955-1985

Author

Listed:
  • Yi Zeng

    (Duke University)

  • T. Paul Schultz

    (Yale University)

  • Deming D. Wang

    (Alma College)

  • Danan Gu

    (United Nations)

Abstract

Based on a unique data set on the event history of marriage and divorce collected in the In-Depth Fertility Surveys conducted in Shanghai, Shaanxi, and Hebei in 1985 and a multivariate hazards model, this paper investigates the association between divorce risk and socio-demographic factors in China. Controlling for several other socio-demographic factors, we demonstrate that the risk of divorce for women who married before age 18 is twice as high as that of those married after age 20; the risk of divorce of arranged marriages is about 2.6 times as high as that of not-arranged ones. The number of children is highly and negatively correlated with risk of divorce; the traditional son preference does not seem having substantial effects on divorce among women who have one or two children; but the risk of divorce of women who have three or more daughters without a son was 2.2 times as high as that of those women who have three or more children with at least one son. The divorce level in urban areas is higher than that in rural areas. The greater proportion of arranged and early marriages plus some other special factors in a less developed region (Shaanxi) contributes to its higher general divorce rate before 1985, in comparison with the advanced region (Shanghai). The divorce level in Shanghai after 1985 has become higher than that in Shaanxi. It seems that education level is positively related to divorce and labor force participation is negatively related to divorce, but the estimates are not statistically significant. Some explanations of these findings are also discussed in this paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi Zeng & T. Paul Schultz & Deming D. Wang & Danan Gu, 2002. "Association of Divorce with Socio-Demographic Covariates in China, 1955-1985," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 7(11), pages 407-432.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:7:y:2002:i:11
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2002.7.11
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sander, William, 1985. "Women, Work, and Divorce," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 519-523, June.
    2. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Puthiery Va & Wan-Shui Yang & Sarah Nechuta & Wong-Ho Chow & Hui Cai & Gong Yang & Shan Gao & Yu-Tang Gao & Wei Zheng & Xiao-Ou Shu & Yong-Bing Xiang, 2011. "Marital Status and Mortality among Middle Age and Elderly Men and Women in Urban Shanghai," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-10, November.
    2. Kim Qinzi Xu, 2022. "Children and marital dissolution in China," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 233-255, June.
    3. Li Ma & Ester Rizzi & Jani Turunen, 2019. "Childlessness, sex composition of children, and divorce risks in China," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(26), pages 753-780.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; divorce; divorce risk; sociodemographic factors of divorce; arranged marriage; early marriage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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