Dollars, Dependency, and Divorce: Four Perspectives on the Role of Wives’ Income

This article delineates and assesses the evidence for four perspectives that have guided previous research on the relationship between wives' economic resources and marital stability. Hypotheses from these perspectives were tested using event history methods and 1980-1997 panel data for 1,704 individuals from the Marital Instability Over the Life Course study. Both wives' dollar income and wives' percentage of total family income served as measures of wives' economic resources. The association between wives' percentage of income and divorce formed an inverted U-shaped curve, with the odds of divorce being highest when wives contributed between approximately 40% and 50% of the total family income. When wives' resources were measured in dollars, wives' income showed a positive, linear association with the odds of divorce. These findings provide the strongest support for an equal dependence perspective, which argues that economic dependence and obligation influence marital stability. Key Words: divorce, economic independence, equal dependence, wives' income. Despite considerable research, firm conclusions regarding the relationship between wives' economic resources and marital stability have remained elusive. Previous research has been guided by differing conceptualizations of this relationship, has used a variety of data sources and analytic techniques, and has reached mixed conclusions (White & Rogers, 2000). For example, some research has found that wives' economic resources are positively associated with the risk of divorce (Booth, Johnson, White, & Edwards, 1984; Heidemann, Suhomlinova, & O'Rand, 1998). Contrasting findings have indicated that wives' economic resources are negatively associated with the risk of divorce (Conger et al., 1990). Other findings have suggested an inverted U-shaped relationship between wives' economic resources and divorce, with the risk of divorce being highest when husbands and wives have similar resources (Heckert, Nowak, & Snyder; 1998; Nock, 1995, 2001). Still other research has suggested a U-shaped relationship in which the risk of divorce is lowest when husbands' and wives' resources are similar (Coltrane, 1996; Ono, 1998, Risman & Johnson-Sumerford, 1998). My goal in this research was to move toward a clearer understanding of the relationship between wives' economic resources and divorce by (a) delineating four perspectives that guide much previous research in this area, and (b) comparing the evidence for these perspectives using panel data from a large, nationally representative sample of individuals. These data contained detailed, prospective information regarding husbands' and wives' employment and income, family economic experiences, marital quality, and divorce for the 17-year period from 1980 to 1997. I conducted a series of analyses to test hypotheses involving direct, mediating, and moderating relationships suggested by four different perspectives. WIVES' INCOME AND DIVORCE: FOUR PERSPECTIVES Figure 1 presents heuristic models of the expected relationship between wives' economic resources and the risk of divorce (also see Table 4). I refer to these four perspectives as the economic independence, equal dependence, role collaboration, and economic partnership perspectives. Economic Independence As Figure 1 indicates, the economic independence perspective suggests that wives' resources, particularly their actual income, are positively associated with the risk of divorce. Marital stability is enhanced by wives' economic dependence on husbands and by a clear, complementary division of marital roles. As wives' income increases, they should feel more economically independent of their husbands (Becker, 1981; Parsons, 1959). Increases in their actual income and in their percentage contributions also may increase the likelihood that wives perceive the household division of labor as inequitable, challenge their husbands' power as head of the household, and experience greater marital dissatisfaction. …