MARRIAGE AS A REPRODUCTIVE CONTRACT - PATTERNS OF MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND REMARRIAGE

Patterns of marriage, divorce, remarriage, and redivorce were examined in several representative Western cultures through survey questions a nd archival data to test the hypothesis that marriage and divorce can be understood as expressions of underlying gender-specific, fitness ma ximization strategies, Differences between males and females were foun d for the relationship between age and patterns of both marriage and d ivorce, with females being far more likely at almost all ages to initi ate divorce proceedings than males, Once divorced, however, formerly m arried females were less likely to remarry than formerly married males , The presence of children from a prior marriage had the effect of fur ther decreasing the likelihood of remarriage for females, but not for males, Formerly married males without children tended to remarry femal es who had never been married, whereas just the opposite was true for divorced males with children, Consistent with our view of marriage as a reproductive contract, the absence of children was not only conduciv e to divorce and remarriage, but appeared to increase the likelihood o f redivorce as well. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1996.