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Gone to war: have deployments increased divorces?

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  • Sebastian Negrusa
  • Brighita Negrusa
  • James Hosek

Abstract

Owing to the armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, members of the US military have experienced very high rates of deployment overseas. Because military personnel have little to no control over their deployments, the military setting offers a unique opportunity to study the causal effect of major disruptions on marital dissolution. In this paper, we use longitudinal individual-level administrative data from 1999 to 2008 and find that an additional month in deployment increases the divorce hazard of military families, with females being more affected. A standard conceptual framework of marital formation and dissolution predicts a differential effect of these types of shocks depending on the degree to which they are anticipated when a couple gets married. Consistent with this prediction, we find a larger effect for couples married before 9/11, who clearly expected a lower risk of deployment than what they faced post 9/11. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Negrusa & Brighita Negrusa & James Hosek, 2014. "Gone to war: have deployments increased divorces?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 473-496, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:27:y:2014:i:2:p:473-496
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-013-0485-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Cesur, Resul & Freidman, Travis & Sabia, Joseph J., 2020. "War, traumatic health shocks, and religiosity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 475-502.
    2. John Anders & Craig Wesley Carpenter, 2021. "Run Effects of Military Service: Evidence from the 911 Attacks," Working Papers 21-36, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. 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.
    4. Laura Armey & Thomas J. Kniesner & John D. Leeth & Ryan Sullivan, 2022. "Combat, casualties, and compensation: Evidence from Iraq and Afghanistan," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 66-82, January.
    5. 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.
    6. Brighita Negrusa & Sebastian Negrusa, 2014. "Home Front: Post-Deployment Mental Health and Divorces," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 895-916, June.
    7. Breann Whitby & Janice Compton, 2018. "The labor supply of military wives in the US," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 513-539, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Divorce; Work-related absences; Unanticipated deployment shocks; J12; D10; C41;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies

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