Modeling Family Dynamics with Event History Techniques

This article describes the essentials of event history analysis illustrated with data on marital stability from two waves of the U.S. National Survey of Families and Households. First the advantages of event history analysis are described. Second issues regarding data collection methods are briefly reviewed. The final three sections explain statistical procedures including survival tables continuous time models and discrete time models. Results indicate that individual assessments of marital stability at Wave 1 especially from wives have a substantial influence on the likelihood of separation. Even after individual assessments are taken into account however demographic factors such as age at marriage marital duration prior experience in a disrupted marriage and birth of a child continue to have a significant relationship with marital stability. (EXCERPT)