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Military service and marital dissolution: a trajectory analysis

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  • P. Wesley Routon

    (Georgia Gwinnett College)

Abstract

Military service adds additional challenges for married couples. Previous literature on service and marital stability is comprised of mixed results and has often ignored the timing of these effects. This timing is important as it helps disclose the nature of causality and has implications for both military and social security policies. Using a trajectory specification, I estimate the effect of military service on the likelihood of divorce during the volunteer’s period of service and the years following. Two veteran cohorts are examined, those who served during the early twenty-first century wars and those who served during the early 1980s. Among my results, the former cohort is shown to have had their divorce probability increased in the first 2 years post-service, while the opposite effect is found for the latter cohort. Unlike many previous studies of military service and marital stability, I find that effects are not overly dissimilar across racial groups.

Suggested Citation

  • P. Wesley Routon, 2017. "Military service and marital dissolution: a trajectory analysis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 335-355, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:15:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11150-016-9323-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-016-9323-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Jennifer D. Lares & Kruti Lehenbauer, 2019. "Factors Contributing to Marital Dissatisfaction and Divorce in the Military," Proceedings of the 12th International RAIS Conference, April 3-4, 2019 10LL, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    2. Christopher G. Ellison & Margaret S. Kelley & David Leal & Pablo E. Gonzalez, 2022. "How do veterans view gun policies? Evidence from the Guns in American Life Survey," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(3), pages 752-768, May.
    3. Pierre–André Chiappori & Natalia Radchenko & Bernard Salanié, 2018. "Divorce and the duality of marital payoff," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 833-858, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Military service; Divorce; Marital stability; Marital dissolution; Trajectory analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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