The Divorce Generation

Using data from the General Social Survey (GSS), we examine mean differences in measures of well-being, family attitudes, and socioeconomic status for individuals divorced, remarried, or in a first marriage. We sample individuals first married between 1965 and 1975, of which 48 percent reported being divorced or separated from their spouses. Overall, our comparisons support the divorce-stress-adjustment perspective in that the divorced/separated report the lowest levels of well-being relative to those in their first marriage, and they support the protective effect of marriage as remarried individuals report higher levels of well-being relative to the still divorced or separated.