Is Covenant Marriage A Solution to the American Divorce Problem

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This research will evaluate covenant marriage in Louisiana. Since August 1997, couples in Louisiana have had a choice of two forms of marriage: the conventional form with no-fault divorce provisions, and the newer Covenant marriage which is harder to enter and to exit. The latter requires premarital counseling, additional counseling if problems arise, and proof of counseling and other restrictive grounds for divorce or legal separation. Covenant marriage legislation was introduced in 18 other states in 1997-98. This, and similar legislation, was born of a larger debate in our country about the meanings of marriage and what, if anything, should be done to deal with high rates of divorce, cohabitation, diversity in living arrangements, and out-of-wedlock births. Social scientists, legislators and citizens debate whether the state can significantly alter the terms or consequences of actual marriages and divorces. Countered against the hopes that these changes will foster stronger marriages are concerns that restrictive divorce may exacerbate the economic problems of women and children, and that the existence of two marriage systems weakens the status of marriage by introducing contractual elements. The project will build on the investigators' prior year of preliminary NSF-supported research. First, a five-year longitudinal panel study will follow representative samples of individuals who select each type of marriage. It will focus on the reasons for selecting one versus the other type of marriage, differences in the ongoing marriages of the two types, and differences in divorce rates. Second, a qualitative study will investigate issues of gender roles and gender ideology in the two types of marriages. Through these methods, it will be possible to address central questions in most theories of divorce. In particular, the research will attempt to determine the factors that make more restrictive marriage attractive to individuals, the importance of human capital in mate-selection, and whether the state can affect divorce rates.