%0 Journal Article
%T High Education and Divorce in a Cross-national Comparison: How Do Country-specific Population Characteristics Influence a Micro-level Relationship?
%A Me£¿imurec
%A Petra
%J -
%D 2018
%R 10.11567/met.34.2.2
%X Sa£¿etak Europe saw a substantial rise in divorce over the last decades (Eurostat, 2018a). However, this general increase was very uneven: divorce occurs more frequently not only in some countries, but also in some socioeconomic categories. This study examines the relationship between high education and divorce from a multinational perspective. More specifically, the following research questions are addressed: a) How does high education affect the odds of divorce in Europe?; b) Does the relationship between high education and divorce vary across countries?; c) Do nation-specific demographic factors mediate this relationship, and how does Croatia compare to other European countries? Different theories provide different arguments about how education relates to marital (in)stability. For example, some suggest that better-educated spouses have more liberal attitudes that make it easier to opt for a divorce (Levinger, 1976). However, most economic and psychosocial theories see high education as a factor that tends to stabilize marriages among men (Jalovaara, 2003). Becker¡¯s family model (Becker, 1974, 1993; Becker, Landes and Michael, 1977) views the mutual dependence of spouses as a key source of gains to marriage. Because men have typically held a comparative advantage in the labour market and women in domestic work, Becker argues that gains to marriage are maximised when men who have a high economic potential partner with women having low economic potential. For men, high education raises the efficiency of role specialisation, thus reducing the odds of divorce. In contrast, for women, high education decreases the benefits of a traditional gendered division of labour, thus elevating the odds of divorce. A different line of reasoning (Oppenheimer, 1997) asserts that the wife¡¯s high education lessens marital strain (and therefore also lessens the odds of divorce) as it improves the family¡¯s socioeconomic status and living standard. Moreover, education can boost couples¡¯ gains to marriage by bettering communication skills and the ability to solve conflicts (Amato, 1996; Blossfeld, 2014). Empirical studies report mixed evidence too: divorce appears to be more common among the highly-educated in some countries and in some cohorts, but less common among the highly-educated in other countries and in other cohorts (H£¿rk£¿nen and Dronkers, 2006; Dronkers, 2015). Well-known theories of family change discuss possible reasons. According to Goode (1962, 1993), one can anticipate a negative or a less positive relationship between high education and divorce in the
%K divorce
%K education
%K cross-national comparison
%K Europe
%K multi-level analysis
%U https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=313192