SPOUSAL ALTERNATIVES AND MARITAL DISSOLUTION

Using three data sources we explore the effects of the quantity and qu ality of potential new marital partners available in local marriage ma rkets on the risk of marital dissolution. Data from the National Surve y of Families and Households demonstrate that, among recently-divorced men and women, a substantial percentage had been romantically involve d with someone other than their spouse prior to divorcing. Merging mic rolevel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth with aggre gated Public Use Microdata from the 1980 U.S. Census, we examine the i mpact of marriage market characteristics and other contextual variable s on the risk of marital dissolution, net of individual-level predicto rs. Proportional hazards models reveal that, among non-Hispanic Whites , the risk of dissolution is highest where either wives or husbands en counter an abundance of spousal alternatives. Increased labor force pa rticipation among unmarried women and high geographic mobility rates i n the local area also increase marital instability. Our results sugges t that many persons remain open to alternative relationships even whil e married and that the supply of spousal alternatives in the local mar riage market significantly increases the risk of marital dissolution.