PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLEThis article was downloaded by: [EBSCOHost EJS Content Distribution]On: 30 September 2009Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 911724993]Publisher RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UKJournal of Divorce & RemarriagePublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t792306891The Divorce GenerationRenata Forste a; Tim B. Heaton ba Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA b Department of Sociology, FamilyStudies Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USAOnline Publication Date: 15 June 2004To cite this Article Forste, Renata and Heaton, Tim B.(2004)'The Divorce Generation',Journal of Divorce & Remarriage,41:1,95 — 114To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1300/J087v41n01_06URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J087v41n01_06Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdfThis article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial orsystematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contentswill be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug dosesshould be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directlyor indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.The Divorce Generation:Well-Being, Family Attitudes,and Socioeconomic Consequencesof Marital DisruptionRenata ForsteTim B. HeatonABSTRACT. Using data from the General Social Survey (GSS), weexamine mean differences in measures of well-being, family atti-tudes, and socioeconomic status for individuals divorced, remarried,or in a first marriage. We sample individuals first married between1965 and 1975, of which 48 percent reported being divorced or sepa-rated from their spouses. Overall, our comparisons support thedivorce-stress-adjustment perspective in that the divorced/separatedreport the lowest levels of well-being relative to those in their firstmarriage, and they support the protective effect of marriage as re-married individuals report higher levels of well-being relative to thestill divorced or separated.[Article copies available for a fee from TheHaworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address:<[email protected]> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>© 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]KEYWORDS. Divorce, remarriage, marriage, gender differencesRenata Forste, PhD, is Associate Professor, 852 SWKT, Department of Sociology,Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602 (E-mail: [email protected]). Tim B.Heaton, PhD, is Associate Professor, 380C SWKT, Department of Sociology, FamilyStudies Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602 (E-mail: [email protected]).Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, Vol. 41(1/2) 2004http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JDR 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J087v41n01_06 95Downloaded By: [EBSCOHost EJS Content Distribution] At: 00:08 30 September 2009Divorce has transformed the social, economic, and cultural land-scape of the U.S. Only about five percent of first marriages ended in di-vorce during the 19th century, whereas today demographers estimate thathalf of all first marriages will end in divorce (Amato, 2000; Cherlin, 1992;Preston & McDonald, 1979). We have now reached a point where substan-tial numbers of married couples have lived through the high divorce yearsof the 1970s. Starting in the late 1960s, divorce rates began to increase, theypeaked around the early 1980s, and then began a slight decline (Goldstein,1999; Heaton, 2002; National Center for Health Statistics, 1995).Of the couples first married between 1965 and 1975 and interviewedin the General Social Survey (GSS) between 1989 and 1994, 48 percentreported having divorced or being separated from their spouses. Be-cause divorce rates have now reversed to a modest decline, it appearslikely that subsequent marriage cohorts will experience lower cumula-tive probabilities of disruption (Heaton, 2002). We refer to this mar-riage cohort (1965-75) as the divorce generation.Substantial research has documented the numerous benefits of mar-riage, including economic security and personal well-being (Waite &Gallagher, 2000). The growing record of evidence in support of mar-riage is impressive, but many of these studies focus on relatively short-termconsequences. The purpose of our work is to assess the long-term con-sequences of marital disruption in the cohort that has experienced thehighest rates of divorce in U.S. history. We focus, in particular, on threedomains of experience–namely social, psychological, and physical well-being, attitudes toward the family, and socioeconomic status. Compari-sons of the first married, the remarried, and the currently divorced or sep-arated in these domains give some idea of the impact changes in marriagepatterns are having on society. In addition, we consider how the effects ofdivorce or marriage differ for men and women, and if differences found be-tween married and divorced individuals are due in part to selection effects.BACKGROUNDDivorce and Marriage PerspectivesThe divorce-stress-adjustment perspective views divorce not as a sin-gle event, but as a process that begins before the actual divorce takes placeand continues long after the marriage has legally ended. The process ofdivorce includes many events that are stressful for individuals, andthese stresses have negative emotional, behavioral, and health out-96 JOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGEDownloaded By: [EBSCOHost EJS Content Distribution] At: 00:08 30 September 2009comes for family members involved. Various factors may mediate thelevel of stress and negativity that individuals experience during the di-vorce process, including demographic characteristics such as age, raceand ethnicity (Amato, 2000).In contrast to the divorce-stress-adjustment model, the selection per-spective argues that poorly adjusted