Marital Disruption and the Employment of Married Women

This study examines the simultaneous effects of multiple indicators of wife's employment on marital disruption for a national probability sample of women who first married between 1968 and 1982. Based on a multivariate proportional-hazards model, the results indicate that while the employment of married women is related to the rate and timing of marital disruption, the direction and nature of this relationship is not necessarily consistent with conventional wisdom or much of the sociological literature. Specifically, it was found that the rate and timing of marital disruption was negatively related to wife's income and positively related to number of hours worked per week and to amount of premarital work experience. The pattern of these effects is similar for whites and blacks. Some implications for future trends in marital stability are discussed.