The Consequences of Parenthood for the Marital Stability of Young Adults

Linda Waite, Gus Haggstrom, David E. Kanouse

Published 1985

This paper, a reprint of an article that appeared in American Sociological Review, Vol. 50, no. 6, Dec. 1985, examines how the birth of the first child affects the stability of marriages over the short run; it uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. The results show strong, positive effects of the first birth on the marital stability of young adults. The authors estimate that by the time the first child reaches his second birthday, more than 20 percent of the parents would have been divorced or separated if the child had not been born, compared to actual disruption rates of 5 to 8 percent.

Topics

Document Details

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Waite, Linda, Gus Haggstrom, and David E. Kanouse, The Consequences of Parenthood for the Marital Stability of Young Adults. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1985. https://www.rand.org/pubs/notes/N2489.html.
BibTeX RIS

This publication is part of the RAND note series. The note was a product of RAND from 1979 to 1993 that reported miscellaneous outputs of sponsored research for general distribution.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.