IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v38y2017i2d10.1007_s10834-016-9508-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Marital Biography and Mothers’ Wealth

Author

Listed:
  • Adrianne Frech

    (The University of Akron)

  • Matthew Painter

    (The University of Wyoming)

  • Jonathan Vespa

    (Fertility and Family Statistics Branch)

Abstract

We used over 20 years of data to estimate differences in mothers’ wealth across marital biography, following a marital first birth. Our study is the first to account for the selection of mothers into divorce or remarriage when estimating the role that marital history plays in wealth accumulation. Mothers who remained stably married to the biological father of their firstborn child reported greater wealth in their forties than mothers who divorced and did not remarry. Those who married at younger ages, women of color, and women from lower-income families were less likely to remain stably married. Net of selection, mothers who remained remarried had the same wealth as continuously married mothers. Thus the characteristics that predispose mothers to divorce, and not divorce per se, are linked to lower wealth. Once these selection effects were accounted for, we concluded that divorce was not necessarily detrimental to mothers’ economic security, a new finding that contradicts past studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrianne Frech & Matthew Painter & Jonathan Vespa, 2017. "Marital Biography and Mothers’ Wealth," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 279-292, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:38:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10834-016-9508-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-016-9508-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10834-016-9508-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-016-9508-1?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smriti Rao & Hazel Malapit, 2015. "Gender, Household Structure and Financial Participation in the United States," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 606-620, December.
    2. Partha Deb & Pravin K. Trivedi, 2006. "Maximum simulated likelihood estimation of a negative binomial regression model with multinomial endogenous treatment," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 6(2), pages 246-255, June.
    3. Aydogan Ulker, 2009. "Wealth Holdings and Portfolio Allocation of the Elderly: The Role of Marital History," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 90-108, March.
    4. Jonathan Vespa & Matthew Painter, 2011. "Cohabitation History, Marriage, and Wealth Accumulation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(3), pages 983-1004, August.
    5. Linda Waite, 1995. "Does marriage matter?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(4), pages 483-507, November.
    6. Lawrence M. Berger & Jane Waldfogel, 2004. "Maternity leave and the employment of new mothers in the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 17(2), pages 331-349, June.
    7. Andy Sharma, 2015. "Divorce/Separation in Later-Life: A Fixed Effects Analysis of Economic Well-Being by Gender," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 299-306, June.
    8. Sara Mclanahan, 2004. "Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(4), pages 607-627, November.
    9. Keister,Lisa A., 2000. "Wealth in America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521627511, September.
    10. Keister,Lisa A., 2000. "Wealth in America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521621687, September.
    11. Christopher Tamborini & Howard Iams & Gayle Reznik, 2012. "Women’s Earnings Before and After Marital Dissolution: Evidence from Longitudinal Earnings Records Matched to Survey Data," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 69-82, March.
    12. Matthew Painter & Jonathan Vespa, 2012. "The Role of Cohabitation in Asset and Debt Accumulation During Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 491-506, December.
    13. Sandra Hofferth, 2006. "Residential father family type and child well-being: Investment versus selection," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 53-77, February.
    14. Pollak, Robert A, 1985. "A Transaction Cost Approach to Families and Households," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 581-608, June.
    15. Grinstein-Weiss, Michal & Hun Yeo, Yeong & Zhan, Min & Charles, Pajarita, 2008. "Asset holding and net worth among households with children: Differences by household type," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 62-78, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maude Pugliese & David Pelletier & Céline Bourdais, 2023. "Separation and Savings in Tax-Favored Retirement Accounts Among Canadian Men and Women," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(4), pages 1-33, August.
    2. Jeffrey Dew, 2021. "Ten Years of Marriage and Cohabitation Research in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 52-61, July.

    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. Matthew Painter & Jonathan Vespa, 2012. "The Role of Cohabitation in Asset and Debt Accumulation During Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 491-506, December.
    2. Michelle Maroto & Laura Aylsworth, 2017. "Assessing the Relationship Between Gender, Household Structure, and Net Worth in the United States," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 556-571, December.
    3. Philipp M. Lersch, 2017. "The Marriage Wealth Premium Revisited: Gender Disparities and Within-Individual Changes in Personal Wealth in Germany," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 961-983, June.
    4. Michelle Maroto, 2018. "Saving, Sharing, or Spending? The Wealth Consequences of Raising Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2257-2282, December.
    5. Jeffrey Dew, 2021. "Ten Years of Marriage and Cohabitation Research in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 52-61, July.
    6. Valentina Duque & Natasha V Pilkauskas & Irwin Garfinkel, 2018. "Assets among low-income families in the Great Recession," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, February.
    7. Michelle Maroto, 2019. "Sharing or Limiting the Wealth? Coresidence, Parental Support, and Wealth Outcomes in Canada," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 102-116, March.
    8. Emily Rauscher, 2015. "Effects of Early U.S. Compulsory Schooling Laws on Educational Assortative Mating: The Importance of Context," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(4), pages 1219-1242, August.
    9. Elena Gouskova & Ngina Chiteji & Frank Stafford, 2010. "Pension Participation: Do Parents Transmit Time Preference?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 138-150, June.
    10. Robert Mare, 2011. "A Multigenerational View of Inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(1), pages 1-23, February.
    11. Pedro R. D. Bom & Aitor Goti, 2018. "Public Capital and the Labor Income Share," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, October.
    12. Meta Brown & Andrew F. Haughwout & Donghoon Lee & Wilbert Van der Klaauw, 2011. "Do we know what we owe? A comparison of borrower- and lender-reported consumer debt," Staff Reports 523, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    13. Paula Almeida & Eunice Ramos Lopes & Celio Goncalo Marques & Jorge Simoes & Fatima Pedro, 2017. "The dynamization of Higher Education Institutions for the creation of Tourism Companies in Portugal," Tourism Research Institute, Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 17(1), pages 106-118, June.
    14. Kulic, Nevena, 2013. "The type and duration of family unions and income sharing: The implications for women's economic well-being," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 7-15.
    15. Wim Naudé, 2007. "Peace, Prosperity, and Pro-Growth Entrepreneurship," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2007-02, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Tackie, Nii O. & Aboagye, Judith N. & Johnson, Gwendolyn J. & Braxton, Millicent & Hunt-Haralson, LaTanya & Wall, Gertrude D., 2013. "The Impact Of Selected Socioeconomic Factors On Asset Building In Rural Communities," Professional Agricultural Workers Journal (PAWJ), Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, vol. 1(1), pages 1-15.
    17. Lijun Chen & Di Qi & Dali Yang, 2020. "The Urbanization Paradox: Parental Absence and Child Development in China - an Empirical Analysis Based on the China Family Panel Studies Survey," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(2), pages 593-608, April.
    18. Sarah Kuypers & Ive Marx & Brian Nolan & Juan C. Palomino, 2022. "Lockdown, Earnings Losses and Household Asset Buffers in Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(2), pages 428-470, June.
    19. Joydeep Bhattacharya & Helle Bunzel & Joseph Haslag, 2005. "The non‐monotonic relationship between seigniorage and inequality," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 500-519, May.
    20. Aboohamidi, Abbas & Chidmi, Benaissa, 2015. "Changes in the Wealth of American Households during the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis in the U.S," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205451, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Divorce; Marriage; Remarriage; Wealth;
    All these keywords.

    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:kap:jfamec:v:38:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10834-016-9508-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.