MARITAL INSTABILITY AMONG HISPANICS

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The major objective of the proposed research is to investigate, in comparative perspective, the prevalence, temporal patterns and determinants of marital instability among Hispanics in the U.S. The focus of the study will be on the Mexican American, Puerto Rican and Cuban populations, with additional comparisons drawn with the Anglo (non-Hispanic white) and black populations. The research has the following specific aims: (1) To ascertain the prevalence of marital instability that exists among each of the three Hispanic groups as compared to each other and to blacks and Anglos in 1960, 1970 and 1980; (2) To estimate the effects of specific demographic and socioeconomic determinants of marital instability affecting the racial/ethnic groups of interest; (3) To analyze the changes in marital instability over the 1960-1980 interval that distinguish Hispanics; and (4) To test the extent to which attachment to Hispanic culture may account for different levels of marital dissolution. The data source will be the 1960, 1970 and 1980 Public Use micro-data files available from the decennial censuses in those years; i.e., the 1960 and 1970 Public Use Samples (PUS) and the 1980 Public Use Micro-Data Samples (PUMS-A). All ever-married Mexican American, Puerto Rican and Cuban persons together with a one in two and a one in ten sample of black and Anglo persons, respectively, will comprise the sample. The magnitude of the net effects of determinants of marital instability and of changes over time will be specified through the use of log-linear techniques that are more appropriate for data of this sort than are standard regression procedures. Marital status is obviously a crucial and defining feature of household and family structure, and this analysis should contribute substantially to our understanding of the massive structural changes in the American family over the past two decades.