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

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  • Delia Furtado

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  • 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

Suggested Citation

  • Delia Furtado & Miriam Marcén & Almudena Sevilla, 2013. "Does Culture Affect Divorce? Evidence From European Immigrants in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(3), pages 1013-1038, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:3:p:1013-1038
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-012-0180-2
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    3. Marcén, Miriam, 2014. "The role of culture on self-employment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(S1), pages 20-32.
    4. 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.
    5. Bellido, Héctor & Marcén, Miriam, 2016. "On the relationship between BMI and marital dissolution," MPRA Paper 73868, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. 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.
    7. 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).
    8. Christoph Eder & Martin Halla, 2017. "Economic Origins of Cultural Norms: The Case of Animal Husbandry and Bastardy," Working Papers 2017-14, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, University of Innsbruck.
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    10. Marcén, Miriam & Molina, José Alberto & Morales, Marina, 2018. "The effect of culture on the fertility decisions of immigrant women in the United States," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 15-28.
    11. 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.
    12. Hua Wang & J. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal, 2018. "Teens and twenties: cultural and preferences differences in the uses of time in Spain," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 51-55, January.
    13. 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.
    14. Rafael González-Val & Miriam Marcén, 2017. "Divorce and the business cycle: a cross-country analysis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 879-904, September.
    15. Bredtmann, Julia & Höckel, Lisa Sofie & Otten, Sebastian, 2017. "The intergenerational transmission of gender role attitudes: Evidence from immigrant mothers-in-law," Ruhr Economic Papers 735, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    16. Marcén, Miriam & Morales, Marina, 2017. "Remain single or live together: Does culture matter?," MPRA Paper 77623, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    Divorce; Culture; Immigrants;

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