The Divorced and Who Divorces?

In this study we pose two broad questions: what are the characteristics ofthe currently divorced; and who divorces? Divorce is used as an inclusiveterm to include separations from marriages and from cohabiting unions.In the first part data from the Family Resources Survey is used to identifythe characteristics of the divorced population. In the second part twolongitudinal studies, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and theNational Child Development Study (NCDS) are used to address thequestion “who divorces?”.The BHPS allowed us to examine this issue for individuals andcouples of all ages whereas the data from the NCDS allowed us toexamine background factors from childhood and adolescence associatedwith partnership dissolution in adulthood. A number of insights emergedfrom our longitudinal analyses as well as from the cross-sectional analysisof the Family Resources Survey.[...]