Divorces and Divorce Rates

1 DatafromtheNATIONALVITALSTATISTICSSYSTEM D ivorcesandDivorceRatesUnitedStatesAnalys isofdivorcestatisticsfortheearly1970 s,includingspecificdivorceratesbyvarious characteristics,basedonpopulationdatafro mthe1970census, (PHS) ,EDUCATION,ANDWELFAREP ublicHealthServiceNationalCenterforHealt hStatisticsHyattsville, , ,UnitedStates.(Vitalandhealthstatistics: Series21,DatafromtheNationalVitalStatist icsSystem; )(DHEW publicationno.(PHS)78-1907) :21 UnitedStates :Series21,DatafromtheNationalVitaJStatis ticsSystem,Dataonnatality,marriage,anddi vorce; ,Education, ;no.(PHS) [HQ834]312 .1 097377-14100 ISBN0-8406-0110-7[312.]

2 5 0973] , , , , , , ,JR., , , , , , , , , ,AssociateDirectorforResearchALICEHAYWOO D, , , ,Chief, , , (PHS)78-1907 LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber77-141 00 CONTENTSs~.. ~ ~ :UnitedStates, :1960,1970, : Divorce -registrationarea, :UnitedStates, : Divorce -registrationarea, ,000populationonthepercentageofdivorcing husbandsmarriedmorethanonce:22 States, :UnitedStates, -NumberofStatesbysizeofdivorcerate:Unite dStates, * :UnitedStatesandeachregion, : Divorce -registrationarea,1960,1970, ,bydurationofmarriageattimeofdecree:Unit edStates, ,withpercentchanges:UnitedStates,1960and 1969anddivorce-registrationarea, : Divorce -registrationarea, ,byrace: Divorce -registrationarea, ,accordingtonumberofthismarriageofhusban dandwife.

3 Divorce -registrationarea, ,bynumberofthismarriageofspouse: Divorce - registrationarea, : Divorce -registrationareaand21selectedSt ates, ,accordingtorace: Divorce -registrationare a, ---- -------- ------Categorynotapplicable- ---- - -- ---------- --- - -- --- * , ,Dzi, sandearly1970 ,000populationin1962, , ;therateper1, ,077, (DRA) ,marriageorder,race, , ,Negro, ,andthatforotherraceswasthelowest; ,however, , , ,buttheageatmarriagewasmoreimportant, , (from413,000to915,000),andthedivorcerate doubled( , ).From1973to1976divorcescontinuedtoincre asebutlessrapidlythaninthelate1960 sandearly1970 ,000population, , ,077,000divorcesweregrantedin1976, ,000population, ,000marriedwomenincreased94percentbetwee n1962and1973( ).

4 From1973to1975,thelatestyearforwhichthis ratepresentlycanbecomputed, , , ,5,137,000di-vorcesweregranted,ascompare dwith3,838,000in1951-60and4,141, swereprimarilyduetothehighdivorceratefol lowingWorldWarII;theincreaseduringthe196 0 sand1970 stheratesweresimilartothoseofthe1950 s,andfor9years(1955-63) , , , , :thedifferencebetweenthenationaldivorcet otalfor1975(1,036,000)andthatfor1955(377 ,000)was659,000,andonly97,000ofthisnumbe rcouldbeattributedtochangesinthepopulati on(table2).Thisrepresents( ,85percentofthe1955-75increaseappearstob eduetoothercauses, :forthe1955-63periodthisportionrepresent ed47percent, ;theportionoftheincreasewhichcanbeassume dtobeduetoothercausesgrewaccordinglyfrom 53 Ito88percent(table2).)

5 ,desertion,andtwoyearsofseparation-toits solelegalgroundfordivorce ,thenumberofdivorcesgrantedinNewYorkStat egrewalmosteighttimes,from7,136in1967to5 5, , ,andadoptedtheconceptofmar-riagedissolut ion, irreconcilabledifferences or marriageirre-trievablybroken. Californiaintroducedno-faultdivorcesasof January1970, ,andbyJanuary1974,23 Stateshadno-faultdivorces?ThoughinNewYor k,NewJersey,Hawaii,Delaware,andFloridath echangesinthelaws Reference1, , wasasmallincreaseinthenumberofdivorcesgr fited( ).Thedeclinewasprobablyccmnectedwiththel iberalizationofdivorcelawsinCali-fornia, NewYork,andotherStates,whichmayhavecause dadeclineinmigratorydivorces, ,theNevada,divorcerateper1,000marriedwom en, ,was2?

6 42timesashighasthenexthighestStaterate, , ,morethandoubledin14:States,increasedfro mbetween50and99percentin28 StatesandtheDistrictofColumbia,andin- Reference3, , , , , ( ),morethandoubledintheNorthCentral( ),almostdoubledintheSouth( ),andgrewabout90percentintheWest( ).ForindividualStates,thechangerangedfro manincreaseof675percentinNewYork,300perc entinConnecti-cut,and253percentintheDist rictofColumbia , ,~mcludingtheDistrictofColumbia, , ,whilethesmaU-, , , , , , ;ratiosbetweenthetwohighratesandthelowra tewere74and13, , ; , ,000population, , , , , , , , ( ,000population) :UnitedStates,1975[TheDistrictofColumbia includedasaState]Increase1960-75 LessDivorcerateper1,000population,1960th anAll.

7 :UnitedStates,1960-75[TheDistrictofColum biaincludedasaState] , ( )hadin-creased,thenumberofthosewithmiddl e-sizedrates( ) ,theStatesinthemiddlecategoryin1975werem ostlynotthesameStatesthatwereinthiscateg oryin1960;formerlow-rateStatesmovedintot hemiddle-ratecategory,whilemanyfor-mermi ddle-rateStateshadhighratesinth~1970 (SMSA S):in1970,theircombinedareawas387,616squ aremiles,only11percentoftheentirelandare aoftheUnitedStates;however,theircombined populationwas139,418,811,representing69p ercentofthetotaLIntheUnitedStates,exclud ingNewEngland,anSMSA comprisesacountyoragroupofcounties;hence thenumberofdivorcesgrantedanddivorcerate scanbeeasilycom-putedbothforindividualSM SA Sdonotnecessarilycompriseentirecounties, ,Stateeconomicmetropolitanareasareusedas equivalentsofSMSA ,in1970, S(tableC).

8 ThedivorcerateforalltheSMSA ,000912121031112[51112101383112515151515 1112221314151617131517151511119101086534 111211----11111221215121814113111I516121 81;1412111122211113population(table6), ~h~ ,000marriedwomenw=jrespectively, ,divisicms,andStates,themetropolitanrate washigherthanthenonmetropolitan,rate, ,however,afewimportantexceptions:inbothd ivisionsoftheNortheastRegkmandinnineStat es,mostofthemintheNortheast,thenonrnetro politandivorcerateper1, ,geographicdivisions,andallStates,except Nevada,were higherth~ divisionsaswellasallStates,exceptthree(A labam~Nevada,ahdRhodeIsland).For1970,rat esper1,000population mdper1, , Swereusedforcomputing1970divorcerates,bu tthe1960definitionswereusedfokboth1!]

9 ] Snotonlyincreasedfrom201in1960to229by197 0, S,Greensboro-HighPointandWinston-Salem, SfollowthepatternsetbyStaterates:lowrate sintheNortheastandpartsoftheNorthCentral , :UnitedStatesandeachregion,1970[Percents basedonreportedtotals]RagionAreaUnitedSt atasNorth-NortheastCentralSouthWast, ,00086,000186,000242,000194,0002504,2396 5,29421~,16fj2150,324159,4552192,57320,3 73248,831289,13334,236 Percentdistribution : EEF=El= , ,respec-tively,per1, ,0:6,wasfoundintheMcAllen-Pharr-Edinburg SMSA thatincludesHldalgoCounty, , (theMcAllen-Pharr-EdinburgSMSA hadnotyetbeenestablished). SofNevada theincreasesweresmall, ,whileothers,suchasrace,marriageorder,or ageatmarriage,remainconstantthroughoutth eIifeoftheindividualorthroughtheduration ofagivenmarriage;stillothers(education,n umberofchildren) ,duration-specificdivorceratescouldbeexp ectedtobehaveinamannersimilartothatofage -specificrates,andestimatednationaldurat ion-specificratessupportthisview.

10 ( ,nationalestimatesofdi-vorcesbyduration, basedonDRAdata, )Theduration-specificratesincreasedsligh tlyintheveryearlyyearsofmarriage,reached amaxi-mumbetweenthesecondandthefourthmar -riageanniversary, ,bydurationofmarriageattimeofdecree:Unit edStates,1970[ ,seeappendix] ~.. ,00034,00060,00066,00060,00054,00049,000 40,00035,00029,00026,00098,00064,00050,0 0024,00018, ) :UnitedStates,1970almostdisappearedafter 30yearsofmarriage,whenonly1coupleoutof62 5divorced(tableEandfigure4).Thequestionr emainsopen:Whichofthetwovariables,ageord uration,hasastrongerinfluenceonthelikeli hoodofdivorce;thatis,whatwouldhappentoth edurationrateifagewereheldconstant,andvi ceversa?