Is Covenant Marriage A Solution to the American Divorce Problem

盟约婚姻是解决美国离婚问题的方法吗

• 批准号: 9819156
• 负责人: Steven Nock
• 金额: $ 40.66万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-05-01 至 2005-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9819156&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Covenant; Marriage; Solution; American; Divorce

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.

这项研究将评估路易斯安那州的契约婚姻。自1997年8月以来，路易斯安那州的夫妇可以选择两种婚姻形式：传统形式的无过错离婚条款，以及较新的盟约婚姻，这种婚姻更难进入和退出。后者需要婚前咨询、出现问题时的额外咨询以及咨询证明和离婚或法律的分居的其他限制性理由。1997- 1998年，其他18个州实行了盟约婚姻立法。这项立法和类似的立法，是在我国关于婚姻的意义以及应该采取什么措施来应对高离婚率的大辩论中诞生的，同居，生活安排的多样性，以及婚外生育。社会科学家，立法者和公民争论国家是否可以显著改变实际婚姻和离婚的条款或后果。人们希望这些变化将促进更牢固的婚姻，但与此相反的是，人们担心限制性离婚可能加剧妇女和儿童的经济问题，两种婚姻制度的存在引入了契约因素，削弱了婚姻的地位。该项目将建立在研究人员前一年NSF支持的初步研究的基础上。首先，一项为期五年的纵向小组研究将跟踪选择每种婚姻类型的个人的代表性样本。它将侧重于选择一种婚姻而不是另一种婚姻的原因，两种婚姻的差异以及离婚率的差异。其次，质性研究将探讨两种婚姻中的性别角色和性别意识形态问题。通过这些方法，将有可能解决大多数离婚理论中的核心问题。特别是，这项研究将试图确定使限制性婚姻对个人有吸引力的因素，人力资本在择偶中的重要性，以及国家是否会影响离婚率。