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Does Culture Affect Divorce? Evidence From European Immigrants in the United States

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Listed author(s):
  • Delia Furtado

    ()

  • Miriam Marcén

    ()

  • Almudena Sevilla

    ()

Abstract

This article explores the role of culture in determining divorce by examining country-of-origin differences in divorce rates of immigrants in the United States. Because childhood-arriving immigrants are all exposed to a common set of U.S. laws and institutions, we interpret relationships between their divorce tendencies and home-country divorce rates as evidence of the effect of culture. Our results are robust to controlling for several home-country variables, including average church attendance and gross domestic product (GDP). Moreover, specifications with country-of-origin fixed effects suggest that immigrants from countries with low divorce rates are especially less likely to be divorced if they reside among a large number of coethnics. Supplemental analyses indicate that divorce culture has a stronger impact on the divorce decisions of females than of males, pointing to a potentially gendered nature of divorce taboos. Copyright Population Association of America 2013

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13524-012-0180-2
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Article provided by Springer & Population Association of America (PAA) in its journal Demography.

Volume (Year): 50 (2013)
Issue (Month): 3 (June)
Pages: 1013-1038

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Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:3:p:1013-1038
DOI: 10.1007/s13524-012-0180-2
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.springer.com

Web page: http://www.populationassociation.org/

Order Information: Web: http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/13524

Keywords: Divorce; Culture; Immigrants;

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Cited by:

  1. Marcén, Miriam, 2014. "The role of culture on self-employment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(S1), pages 20-32.
  2. Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah & Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola & Masella, Paolo, 2016. "Cultural Determinants of Household Saving Behavior," Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145854, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
  3. Amit Kaplan & Anat Herbst, 2015. "Stratified patterns of divorce," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(34), pages 949-982, May.
  4. González-Val, Rafael & Marcén, Miriam, 2015. "Divorce and the Business cycle: A cross-country analysis," MPRA Paper 63194, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  5. Gimenez-Nadal, Jose Ignacio & Wang, Hua, 2016. "Teens and Twenties: cultural and preferences differences in the uses of time in Spain," MPRA Paper 74449, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  6. Bellido, Héctor & Marcén, Miriam, 2016. "On the relationship between BMI and marital dissolution," MPRA Paper 73868, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  7. Marcén, Miriam & Morales, Marina, 2017. "Remain single or live together: Does culture matter?," MPRA Paper 77623, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  8. Natalia Nollenberger & Núria Rodríguez-Planas & Almudena Sevilla, 2016. "The Math Gender Gap: The Role of Culture," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 257-261, May.
  9. Bellido, Héctor & Molina, José Alberto & Solaz, Anne & Stancanelli, Elena, 2016. "Do children of the first marriage deter divorce?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 15-31.
  10. Marcén, Miriam & Molina, Jose Alberto & Morales, Marina, 2016. "The effect of culture on the fertility decisions of immigrant women in the United States," MPRA Paper 75511, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  11. Kamila Cygan-Rehm, 2014. "Immigrant Fertility in Germany: The Role of Culture," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 707, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

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