No strongTrendstrong in the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce.pdf

Center for Demography and Ecology University of Wisconsin-Madison No Trend in the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce Jui-Chung Allen Li and Lawrence L. Wu NSFH Working Paper No. 94 ∗ No Trend in the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce September 4, 2006 Jui-Chung Allen Li and Lawrence L. Wu Department of Sociology, New York University ∗ An earlier version was presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL. We thank Elizabeth Thomson, Larry L. Bumpass, Gary Sandefur, Hsien-Hen Lu, James Raymo, and Mary Elizabeth Hughes for helpful comments and suggestions, and Min-Hsiung Huang for assistance with using the General Social Survey. Funding from NICHD (HD 25500) is gratefully acknowledged. Direct correspondence to Jui-Chung Allen Li, Department of Sociology, New York University, 295 Lafayette Street, 4th floor, New York, NY10012; email: Allen.Li@. 1 2 No Trend in the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce ABSTRACT This paper resolves apparent discrepancies concerning trends in the intergenerational transmission of divorce. Wolfinger (1999) reports that divorce transmission has weakened substantially, due perhaps to declining stigma or selectivity among those who divorce. While plausible, his findings contrast sharply with others (McLanahan and Bumpass 1988; Teachman 2002), who report no trend in divorce transmission. Our analys