Women Less Likely to Remarry - 7/24/02

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subject: Women Less Likely to Remarry - 7/24/02

from: Smart Marriages

Women Less Likely to Remarry

By Helen Rumbelow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 24, 2002

Women are becoming "once bitten twice shy" about marriage, with those who
are divorced much less likely to marry again than those of their parents'
generation, according to a government report released today.

The survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is
the first to measure national patterns of cohabitation and separation among
American couples, discovering hidden trends.

Detailed interviews were conducted with 11,000 women to try to unlock the
secrets of a stable union and what happens to people when their marriage
hits the rocks.

The interviews for this report, "Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce, and
Remarriage in the United States" were conducted in 1995, but they expanded
on surveys undertaken in 1973, 1976, and 1988 by looking more closely at
non-married couples.

By the age of 30, three-quarters of the women in the United States had been
married and about half had lived with a man. Most of those living together ­
70 percent ­ got married within five years.

The recipe for a lasting marriage or cohabitation was very similar: economic
security, maturity, and being brought up in a stable two-parent family.
Those factors were more likely present for women in long-term relationships.

The researchers believe that the strains poverty place on a marriage may
account for the fact that African American women are less likely to marry,
more likely to divorce, and less likely to remarry than are white women.
Asian women had the most enduring marriages of any ethnic group.

One of the most significant trends in the past half century have been the
marriage rates of women who already have been divorced ­ only half of them
marry again or are even cohabiting after five years.

This is down dramatically from the 1950s, when two-thirds of divorced women
tied the knot again. The figures are interesting, said Matt Bramlett, lead
author of the report and an analyst at the CDC's National Center for Health
Statistics, because now there is less stigma attached to divorced women and
there are also more divorced people available in the "marriage market."

Another trend previously missed by surveys is the significant proportion of
couples who are separated but not divorced, particularly among black and
Hispanic couples.

Nearly all separated white women get a divorce within five years, but a
quarter of Hispanic women and a third of black women do not. A substantial
proportion of these remain as "married separations" for the long term.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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