Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T21:38:14.681Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Age of marriage and divorce trends in Amsterdam during the Period 1911–71

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Paul P. A. M Kop
Affiliation:
Institute of Taxonomic Zoology, University of Amsterdam, Langswater 158, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Extract

Instead of divorce rates per 1000 married population, the actual divorce percentages expressed as the proportion of marriages contracted in successive years since 1911 are calculated from a random sample of 3392 first marriages in Amsterdam. The results show the highest divorce percentages for younger men, decreasing from 40% if they were married at 19 years of age to 12% if they were married at 30 years of age. Women attained these values if married at 17 and 28 years of age, respectively. The divorce percentage has increased from 10% for marriages contracted in 1911 to 20% for those contracted in the period 1941–45. The linear increase suggests that about 25% of marriages contracted in the period 1966–70 will end in divorce. This trend seems to depend on changes in the median age of marriage as well as on different divorce tendencies for men marrying at different ages.

It is hoped that the method of calculating divorce trends according to the year of marriage, and to specific age-groups, as used in this study, might yield more information about the range of the divorce problem than the more traditional methods of populations statistics.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boigeol, A. & Commaille, J. (1974) Divorce, milieu social et situation de la femme. Rev. Econ. Statistique, 53, 3.Google Scholar
Central Bureau of Statistics (1970) Zeventig Jaren Statistiek in Tijdreeksen, 1899–1969. 's-Gravenhage, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Chester, R. (1972) Current incidence and trends in marital breakdown. Postgrad. med. J. 48, 529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hetzel, A.M. & Cappetta, M. (1974) Teenagers: Marriages, Divorces, Parenthood, and Mortality. US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, No. (HRA) 75–1901, Ser. 21, No. 23. Health Resources Administration, Rockville.Google Scholar
Langberg, R. (1967) Homicide in the United States. US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Ser. 20, No. 6. Washington, DC.Google ScholarPubMed
Massey, J.T. (1967) Suicide in the United States. US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Ser. 20, No. 5. Washington DC.Google ScholarPubMed
Plateris, A.A. (1970) Increases in Divorces. US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Ser, 21, No. 20. Rockville.Google ScholarPubMed
Plateris, A.A. (1973) 100 Years of Marriage and Divorce Statistics: 1867–1967. US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Ser. 21, No. 24. Rockville.Google Scholar