divorce and mobility: who moves from the family home after separation?
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Divorce and mobility: Who moves from the family home after separation?. Clara H. Mulder and Michael Wagner Universities of Amsterdam, Cologne. Research aim. Explain who leaves the joint home upon separation: the man, the woman, or both - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Divorce and mobility: Who moves from the family home after separation?
Clara H. Mulder and Michael WagnerUniversities of Amsterdam, Cologne
Research aim
Explain who leaves the joint home upon separation: the man, the woman, or both
Previous research: Not that much. Some studies for Germany, Denmark, U.K. (see paper)
Theory: starting points
Assumption 1: decision to separate implies at least one partner leaves and is followed by a decision (of one partner or of the couple) about who leaves
Assumption 2: staying is generally preferred over moving out (inertia; stress of moving; disruption of housing career)
Staying leads to increased housing cost
Situations
One partner makes a one-sided decision → that partner moves out
A partner cannot afford to stay → that partner moves out (could be both)
All other cases: joint decision
How to reach a decision
Power: Who is in a better position Who has lower costs or who gains more from moving
out:- Fairness rule- Greater inclination to move
Hypotheses
Resources
Affording to stay: greater absolute resources (income, education): smaller likelihood of moving
Affording to stay and power: greater relative resources (income difference, difference in level of education, age difference): smaller likelihood of moving
Costs of moving (1)
Higher if location-specific capital is greater:(and (P): more power)
Individual ownership of the home (P) One partner lived in the home, other moved in (P) Local ties: presence of parent(s) in municipality of
residence Local ties: long history of residence
Costs of moving (2)
Higher for the partner who has invested more in the partnership
Mostly the woman; asymmetry more salient with greater investments (long duration of partnership, children)
Costs of moving (3)
Higher for the partner who gets custody of the children
Lower if greater interest in the separation (initiative mainly one partner). Also greater likelihood of one-sided decision
Gains from moving
Greater if new partner. Also greater likelihood of one-sided decision
Data set 1 Divorce in the Netherlands 1998 (Scheiding in
Nederland or SIN)
Selection of those respondents who divorced or separated between 1975 and 1998 and who answered the question who of the partners left the joint home (N=1732)
Data set 2 Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS), main
sample, Waves 1 (2003) and 2 (2007) Sample a: Those two-sex couples who
separated between Waves 1 and 2 (N = 174) Sample b: Those who had separated recently
before Wave 1 (N = 186)
Methods
Couple analysis: who moves out crosstabs male / female / both Multinomial logit model Data: SIN and NKPS Sample a
Individual analysis: does respondent move logit models all, male respondents, female
respondents, test for difference Data: (SIN and) NKPS Samples a + b
Results: Relative resources
Income: Man tends to move out if woman earns more
Education: both tend to move out if both highly educated (unexpected); otherwise no significant differences
Age difference: If man older, woman tends to move out and vice versa
Results: who moves out
Man moves out more frequently
All else equal: woman is more likely to move out
Minority of cases: both move out
Results: Absolute resources
No signs that those with few resources move out more frequently (rather the opposite)
Results: Location-specific capital (1)
Individual homeownership (chisq = 20.45, df = 6, p = 0.002)
Male
leavesFemale leaves Both leave N unweighted
No 35.6 57.5 6.8 66
Both 51.2 40.5 8.3 89
Man only 7.7 92.3 0.0 12
Woman only 100.0 0.0 0.0 7
Results: Location-specific capital (2)
Other partner moved in: strong negative effect on moving out
Parents live close: marked negative effect for women
Same municipality as age 15: marked negative effect
Results: other costs of moving (1)
Difference in investments. Longer duration of partnership: woman less likely to move out
Results: other costs of moving (2)Children with whom after separation (chisq = 168.30, df = 8, p = 0.000)
Male leavesFemale leaves Both leave N unweighted
No joint children / elsewhere 37.7 56.6 5.7 503
All with male 18.2 80.8 1.0 99
All with female 67.2 30.3 2.5 757
Divided or co-parents 37.5 58.0 4.5 95
Not with parents 55.6 41.8 2.6 199
Results: other costs of moving (3)
Separation was whose initative (chisq = 151.88, df = 4, p = 0.000)
Male leaves Female leaves Both leave N unweighted
Both 54.9 39.0 6.0 179
Male 72.3 24.8 2.9 445
Female 40.3 56.3 3.4 1029
Total 167.5 120.1 12.3 1653
Results: Gains of moving
New partner: greater likelihood of moving out for both men and women
Conclusions (1) Resources → Support for relative resources, no support
for absolute resources
Costs of moving: location specific capital → Support
Costs of moving: asymmetry of investments in partnership (woman invests more) → Support
Costs and gains of moving: custody of children, interest in separation, new partner → Support
Overall picture: fairness / justice / entitlement seems important
Conclusions (2)
Gender differences:
Men move out more frequently, but not conditionally on individual and couple characteristics
Individual home-ownership and partner moving in: less frequent for women
Child custody: more frequently women
Initiative to separate: more frequently women