Authors: Dr Hewitt et al.; The University of Queensland; and Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
Overview
This paper presents the main findings of an Australian Research Council linkage project with the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and the University of Queensland. One of the main aims of the project was to obtain a better understanding of marriage breakdown in the Australian context, with a particular focus on gender differences in the social correlates of marriage breakdown. In this paper I present some of the key findings of that project. The project makes two main contributions to previous research into marriage breakdown in Australia: first, it examines gender differences in the social determinants of marriage breakdown in Australia; and second, previous research is extended by examining whether there are gender differences in the decision to separate, taking into account social characteristics.
A large body of literature identifies a range of social characteristics—including temporal and family background factors, relationship and fertility histories, attitudes and beliefs, and socioeconomic position—that are associated with marriage breakdown. Understanding how these factors are differently associated with marriage breakdown for men and women provides a better understanding of why some marriages break down and others remain intact. In this paper I employ two different approaches to examining gender differences in the social determinants of marriage breakdown. First, I examine gender differences in the associations between social characteristics and marriage breakdown. Second, I examine gender differences in the associations between social characteristics and which spouse initiated separation.
The analysis uses retrospective data from all persons who were currently or had been previously married at Wave 1 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (2001). The study is limited to first marriages and excludes the marriages of migrants in the sample that had ended prior to their migration to Australia. The final analytic sample consists of 8,993 first marriages: 4,110 men and 4,883 women. The findings can be grouped into three main themes.
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