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Partnership dissolution: how does it affect income, employment and well-being?

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  • Brewer, Mike
  • Nandi, Alita

Abstract

We assess comprehensively how incomes, employment, housing, mental health and life satisfaction change following a partnership dissolution, using data from 18 waves of BHPS. We confirm that women and children see living standards decline by more than men, on average, upon separation, but find that the fall in living standards is much greater for those women and children formally in high-income households; it is also high for older women with non-dependent children. We find that mental health and life satisfaction decline around separation, but both return quickly to pre-split levels at rates which are little related to post- split circumstances.

Suggested Citation

  • Brewer, Mike & Nandi, Alita, 2014. "Partnership dissolution: how does it affect income, employment and well-being?," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-30, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:ese:iserwp:2014-30
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    Cited by:

    1. Fitzsimons, Emla & Villadsen, Aase, 2019. "Father departure and children's mental health: How does timing matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 349-358.
    2. Zhu, Yajing & Steele, Fiona & Moustaki, Irini, 2020. "A multilevel structural equation model for the interrelationships between multiple latent dimensions of childhood socio‐economic circumstances, partnership transitions and mid‐life health," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103104, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Yassine Khoudja & Lucinda Platt, 2016. "Labour market entries and exits of women from different origin countries in the UK," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1603, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    4. Yajing Zhu & Fiona Steele & Irini Moustaki, 2020. "A multilevel structural equation model for the interrelationships between multiple latent dimensions of childhood socio‐economic circumstances, partnership transitions and mid‐life health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(3), pages 1029-1050, June.
    5. Natasha Wood & Anne McMunn & Elizabeth Webb & Mai Stafford, 2019. "Marriage and physical capability at mid to later life in England and the USA," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Francesca Fiori, 2019. "Who leaves, who stays? Gendered routes out of the family home following union dissolution in Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(20), pages 533-560.
    7. Platt, Lucinda & Haux, Tina & Rosenberg, Rachel, 2015. "Mothers, parenting and the impact of separation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62352, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Janosch Schobin, 2022. "Loneliness and Emancipation: A Multilevel Analysis of the Connection between Gender Inequality, Loneliness, and Social Isolation in the ISSP 2017," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-23, June.
    9. Bram Hogendoorn, 2022. "Why do Socioeconomic Differences in Women’s Living Standards Converge After Union Dissolution?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(3), pages 577-622, August.
    10. Tina Haux & Lucinda Platt & Rachel Rosenberg, 2015. "Mothers, parenting and the impact of separation," CASE Papers /190, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    11. Rory Coulter & Michael Thomas, 2019. "A new look at the housing antecedents of separation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(26), pages 725-760.
    12. Michael J. Thomas & Clara H. Mulder & Thomas J. Cooke, 2018. "Geographical Distances Between Separated Parents: A Longitudinal Analysis," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(4), pages 463-489, October.
    13. Popova, Daria & Navicke, Jekaterina, 2019. "The probability of poverty for mothers after childbirth and divorce in Europe: the role of social stratification and tax-benefit policies," EUROMOD Working Papers EM11/19, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    14. Khoudja, Yassine & Platt, Lucinda, 2017. "Labour market entries and and exits of women from different origin countries in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 85075, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Marion Leturcq & Lidia Panico, 2019. "The Long-Term Effects of Parental Separation on Childhood Multidimensional Deprivation: A Lifecourse Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 921-954, July.
    16. Khoudja, Yassine & Platt, Lucinda, 2016. "Labour market entries and exits of women from different origin countries in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65384, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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