MARITAL FAIRNESS, SATISFACTION, AND DIVORCE

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This research will consider the validity of self-reported data on fairness in paid work and discrepant reports by husbands and wives as well as trends over time. The first aim is to examine the source of disagreement in spouses' reports of fairness in paid work using the first wave of the National Survey of Families and households (NSFHH1) to determine whether spousal differences vary by family role of the observer or by social contexts such as gender ideology and marital happiness. A rasch analysis will be performed to investigate how perceptions of scales of measurement vary by these contexts. The second aim is to examine the relationship between negative reports of fairness and marital happiness in the NSFH1 and thoughts of marriage trouble or divorce in the NSFH2. I will also conduct interviews with 25 dual-earner married couples to deepen our understanding of the meaning and dimensions of fairness, marital satisfaction, and their relationship with marriage trouble and divorce. These interviews will begin with the questions posed in the NSFH. Spouses will then be interviewed separately and asked to describe how they chose response categories, to identify the degree to which respondents vary in their understanding and use of measurement scales on surveys. The third aim of the proposed research will also utilize the first and second waves of NSFH data. Event history analysis will be used to examine the relationships between changes in wives' employment status measured in increased work hours and income with the risk of separation or divorce.