MODELING FAMILY DYNAMICS WITH EVENT HISTORY TECHNIQUES

This article describes the essentials of event history analysis, illus trated with data on marital stability from two waves of the National S urvey of Families and Households. First, the advantages of event histo ry analysis are described. Second issues regarding data collection met hods are briefly reviewed The final three sections explain statistical procedures including survival tables, continuous time models, and dis crete rime models. Results indicate that individual assessments of mar ital stability at Wave I, especially from wives, have a substantial in fluence on the likelihood of separation. Even after individual assessm ents are taken into account however, demographic factors such as age a t marriage, marital duration, prior experience in a disrupted marriage , and birth of a child continue to have a significant relationship wit h marital stability.