MARITAL STABILITY

Marriage, wages, job stability

married men are probably more likely than

unmarried men to encounter and internalize norms like working hard, obedience to superiors, and getting ahead that make them better workers (Gorman 1999). Married men work longer hours, work harder on the job, have lower absenteeism from work, and are less likely to be fired than single men (Ahituv and Lerman 2007; Bielby and Bielby 1988; Nock 1998; Waite and Gallagher 2000). Marriage might make men less likely to take jobs that require geographic moves and the possible displacement of a spouse.

 layoffs or firings increase the risk of divorce,

marriages raise wages and in turn increase marital stability. losing a job or changing jobs might create dislocations that ultimately dissolve a marriage. Employers may decide to lay off the individual; a potential spouse may refuse to marry or a spouse may initiate a divorce.

 Job change can exert positive effects on wages,

as workers shop for a better match and higher wage growth. Alternatively, job change can lower wages if it involves a loss of specific human capital, productivity, and wages. Moreover, the expectation that workers will change jobs frequently may reduce the incentive of both workers and firms to invest in human capital.

 The effects of job changes and wage rates on

changes in marital status likely depend on whether the change involves getting married or staying single, getting divorced or staying married, or getting remarried or staying divorced. Having high wage rates or a stable job may increase a mans willingness to share income and his attractiveness to a potential spouse, while changing jobs may add to the uncertainty of income flows.

 Getting or staying married may increase the mans risk aversion and lead to less job change.
High wages raise mens attractiveness to women

and thus offer men more favorable choices of wives. While mens job loss and wage reductions generally will lower the gains from marriage to women, husbands with stable, high paying jobs are likely to encourage more investment by wives in marriage-specific capital.

 High wage rates and job stability may influence

the initial entry into a marriage differently from their impacts on marital dissolution or remarriage. Frequent job movement by men may signal a low level of reliability, thus lowering their attractiveness to wives and the quality of marital offers. All the job market variables exert at least one significant impact on marital status.

 Changing jobs reduces the likelihood that single

men will marry in the following year, raises the likelihood of divorce, and lowers the likelihood of remarriage. High wages in the prior year raise the likelihood of men becoming and remaining married. The wage impacts are large and significant for entering marriage and for becoming divorced or separated.

MARRIAGE AND WELL BEING

Marriage-better off?
Married persons do have a significant social well-

being advantage over non-married cohabitors. Married adults report lower rates of mental illness and higher rates of indicators of mental health than never married and previously married adults. Married adults in Norway report substantially higher levels of avowed happiness and satisfaction with their lives than nonmarried adults (Mastekaasa 1994). Married adults are better off than nonmarried in terms of physical health and subjective quality of life.

 The benefits of marriage have been explained

via its status as a structural form of social support (e.g., House et al. 1988). Marriage represents a social contract that bonds individuals together in an intimate relationship that can be stress-buffering and socially integrative. Classic studies operationalized social support via marriage (as well as civic and religious participation), finding that married adults were at reduced risk for premature mortality and physical morbidity (e.g., cardiovascular disease) (see Stroebe and Stroebes 1995 review).

 Marriage purportedly confers social

integration to its participants, providing them with a feeling of belonging and purpose (Waite and Gallagher 2000), primarily through kin-based social networks. As such, marriage would be hypothesized to promote an individuals sense of social wellbeing.

 Larson (1996), the key to deciding whether a measure of social

well-being is part of an individuals health is whether the measure reflects internal responses to stimulifeelings, thoughts and behaviors reflecting satisfaction or lack of satisfaction with the social environment (p. 186). Generally speaking, individual-level social well-being can be conceptualized as having two facets: Social adjustment and social support (McDowell and Newell 1987). Social adjustment refers to the subjective satisfaction with relationships or the performance of social roles. Social support refers to the quality and number of persons whom an individual trusts and can rely on, as well as the degree to which one is needed and matters to others and society (see also Larson 1993). Thus, social well-being can be defined as an individuals appraisal of their social relationships, how others react to them, and how they interact with social institutions and community (Keyes 1998; Larson 1993).

 The strain/crisis hypothesis suggests that marital status

differences in social well-being stem from the strains and concomitant network disruptions associated with marital disruption.

Divorce is associated with the loss of joint (marital)

social networks, which tend to be magnified by conflicts of loyalty (Kalmijn and Broese van Groenou 2005). also been linked to economic distress for women in particular, which may impact womens social participationmany forms of social participation cost money (Kalmijn and Broese van Groenou 2005; Umberson et al. 1992).

Marital disruption through divorce and widowhood has

 Mastekaasa (1992) found that subjective well-being and life satisfaction predicted the probability of eventual marriage among Norwegians. Moreover, early life experiences which may be associated with social well-being have been shown

to affect the probability of marriage and divorce.

For example, Davies et al. (1997) found that many

divorced women in their study reported a history of depression and problematic relations with their family of origin.

 In more developed Western societies, a long-

standing research stream shows that individuals more involved in social support systems among family, friends, peers, and others, are more healthy, live longer, have greater life satisfaction, and have less need for long-term institutional care than persons without such social support systems (Berkman & Syme, 1979; Cohen & Syme, 1985; Durkheim, 1951; House, Robbins & Metzner, 1982; Seeman, Kaplan, Knudsen, Cohen & Guralnik, 1987; Steinbach, 1992).

 Widowhood, which involves the loss of one of

the closest personal relationships (spouse), has a key impact on social networks, especially among older persons.
Empirical evidence from more developed

Western societies shows that married persons have better health and lower mortality compared with the never married, widowed, or divorced, even accounting for the tendency of less healthy persons to be less likely to enter into marriage or to remain married (Lillard & Waite, 1995; Waldron, Hughes, & Brooks, 1996).

 In general, marital status affects health through pathways of (a) socioeconomic status and (b) social ties associated with actual social support. Regarding the former, married persons often have greater access to resources (often due to multiple incomes) and economies of scale, which may bolster healthier

lifestyles and use of health care (Waite & Gallagher, 2000; Wyke & Ford, 1992).

Regarding the latter, the increased social support network deriving from marriage includes the benefit of socialization and nurturing from spouses and children (Berkman & Glass, 2000; House, Umberson, & Landis, 1998).

 Both increased resources and enhanced social

networks buffer stressful eventsa key role played by social support in promoting health.
Marital dissolution increases the risk for mental and physical health prob- lems, some of which emerge only among women who had

harmonious marriages.

 Gender issues figure prominently in the

relationship between marital status and health outcomes (review in Reidy, Ofstedal, & Knodel, 2002). Men and women benefit differentially from marriage in terms of socioeconomic status, social ties and support, and health outcomes. In Western societies, too, womens history of lower participation in paid work, interrupted work trajectories, occupational segregation, and lower wages has led to a socioeconomic status that is, on average, lower than mens (Hardy & Hazelrigg, 1993; Meyer, 1990).

 Thus, through marriage, women benefit from access to mens socioeconomic resources. On the other hand, caring, nurturing, and kin-

keeping roles are traditionally the province of women. Thus, through marriage, men benefit from the enhanced nurturing, social ties, and support networks that women maintain (Goldscheider, 1990). Following marital disruption, womens socioeconomic status declines, and mens social networks diminish.

Marriage and Economic Well Being

divorce does not have negative economic consequences. However, for most women experiencing marital disruption, previous research suggests that improvements in economic well-being happened through remarriage (Bianchi and McArthur 1991; Duncan and Hoffman 1985b). Kniesner et al. (1988) found that most first episodes of poverty for female-headed households were associated with a change in family structure.

 Besides marital status, numerous other factors have

been found to be related to poverty dynamics. Both Cox (1997) and Stevens (1995, 1999) found that the effects of a number of other covariates on the poverty dynamic differed by race and ethnicity. Other factors found to be associated with poverty exits and (re)entry, in the direction that would be expected, included various human capital measures, such as years of education and employment experience, labor market conditions, age of the woman, presence of preschool age children, urban residence, and a non-marital birth (Bane and Ellwood 1986; Cox 1997; Kniesner et al. 1988; Stevens 1999).

 The first theoretical model suggested by researchers

was based on the concepts of human capital, economic independence, and income effects. The model suggests that as womens human capital increases, their employment prospects improve, and in turn their earning potential increases, such that marriage is not as necessary for economic support as when their human capital was lower. This perspective would suggest that women with less education and earning potential would be more reliant on marriage for economic support, while women with better economic prospects based on their human capital or access to resources outside marriage would be more economically independent (Cherlin 1992; Espenshade 1985; Goode 1956; Preston and Richards 1975; Ross and Sawhill 1975).

 Subsequently, another theoretical approach to

understanding marital status and poor women focused on marriage markets. This perspective suggests that persons who have greater earning potential and employment are more attractive to potential mates and, therefore, are more likely to marry (Becker 1981; Oppenheimer 1997). Empirical research suggests that women with greater economic potential are more likely to marry and to remarry than women who are economically disadvantaged (McLaughlin and Lichter 1997; Oppenheimer and Lewin 1999; Smock 1990). While women with low economic potential may be perceived as less attractive as mates, these women may also face a shortage of marriageable men (Wilson 1987).

 In addition, those men who are available to poor

women may not be economically attractive in that they are more likely to have unstable employment and unstable or low earnings (Lichter et al. 1992). Thus, marrying, remarrying, or remaining married may not be the solution to improving some lowincome womens economic circumstances. Our results indicate that marriage formation is helpful in getting mothers out of poverty, and reduces the odds that they would reenter poverty, suggesting that public policies that encourage healthy marriage would improve the economic circumstances of women with children who are in persistent or intermittent poverty spells.

 Even though marriage formation appears to be important to the economic well-being of young women with children, the different magnitude

of the relationship between ending a marriage and poverty exit and reentry needs to be considered. The results indicate that ending a marriage increases the chances of both getting out of poverty and getting back into poverty, but the chance of the latter is greater than the former.

 Promoting healthy marriage as a solution?