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Factors Affecting Divorce: A Study of the Terman Sample

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  • Robert T. Michael

Abstract

Within the past few years, renewed interest in understanding marital behavior has resulted in a number of studies which focus on an equation estimating the probability of divorce or remarriage. This paper reports on one such effort. It offers a brief rationale for and an estimation of probability functions for divorce rates at specific lengths of marriage duration for a very unrepresentative sample of American women -- a group of geniuses. The data are from the "Terman sample" of some 671 women selected in 1921 (together with a comparable group of men) by psychologist Lewis N. Terman. The sample was chosen from children enrolled in California schools in urban areas. It included children, preselected by their teachers, whose measured IQ was 135 or above. The sample thus represented students in the highest one percent of the school population in general intelligence. In another report I have compared the marital behavior of these Terman subjects to the relevant California population, controlling for the very high level of schooling and the somewhat constricted distribution of age at first marriage among the Terman subjects (Michael 1976). The Terman subjects generally exhibited the same qualitative relationships between marital patterns and such variables as age at marriage and schooling as the California population. However, one should keep in mind the very special nature of this sample when comparing results with other studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert T. Michael, 1976. "Factors Affecting Divorce: A Study of the Terman Sample," NBER Working Papers 0147, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0147
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gary S. Becker & Elisabeth M. Landes & Robert T. Michael, 1976. "Economics of Marital Instability," NBER Working Papers 0153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. James J. Heckman & Robert J. Willis, 1976. "Estimation of a Stochastic Model of Reproduction: An Econometric Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Household Production and Consumption, pages 99-146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Nancy Davis & Larry Bumpass, 1976. "The continuation of education after marriage among women in the United States: 1970," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 13(2), pages 161-174, May.
    4. Heckman, James J & Willis, Robert J, 1977. "A Beta-logistic Model for the Analysis of Sequential Labor Force Participation by Married Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 27-58, February.
    5. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "A Theory of Marriage," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 299-351, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. repec:ucp:bknber:9780226740867 is not listed on IDEAS
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    1. Gensowski, Miriam, 2018. "Personality, IQ, and lifetime earnings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 170-183.
    2. Gary S. Becker & Elisabeth M. Landes & Robert T. Michael, 1976. "Economics of Marital Instability," NBER Working Papers 0153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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