THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE DIVORCES ON PERSON PERCEPTION

While multiple divorces have become more commonplace in our society, t he perception of persons who have been divorced more than once has not been studied. Half of each of 40 male and 40 female college students were randomly assigned to rate either four male or four female stimulu s persons each briefly described as either married, divorced once, twi ce, or three times. Subjects rated each stimulus person on 31 7-point bipolar items which were each part of one of four different scales der ived from the divorce and related person perception literatures: Profe ssional Competence, Interpersonal Adjustment, Psychological Deviance, and Morality. Divorced women and men were more negatively evaluated th an married women and men, with negative ratings increasing with number of divorces on all four scales.