How premarital children and childbearing in current marriage influence divorce of Swedish women in their first marriages

Premarital conception and divorce risk in Russia in light of the GGS data

“…The excess risk of marital dissolution among women who had a child before marriage is independent of who is the father of the child. Even if it is a common child with the husband, these women face a much higher risk of divorce than those who had their first birth in wedlock (Kravdal, 1988;Liu, 2002). Childless couples usually run the highest risk of marital breakdown, but we discuss this association more explicitly in the later section on the effect of number and ages of children.…”

Delayed entry into first marriage and marital stability

“…Postponement of entry into marriage may also influence marital instability indirectly by increasing exposure to the risk of other events, with varying implications for marital instability. For example, women who marry late are more likely to enter marriage with a child from a previous informal union and having cohabited with other partners -potentially destabilizing influences (Liu 2002;Waite and Lillard 1991); they are also more likely to have had the opportunity to complete a college education, a stabilizing influence (Lyngstad and Jalovaara 2010;McLanahan 2004). We use the term "total effect" to refer to the sum of the direct and indirect effects.…”

A review of the antecedents of union dissolution

“…Having a first birth within wedlock has been reported to decrease the risk of divorce in Norway and Sweden (Kravdal 1988;Liu 2002). This effect is most likely due to selection of particularly stable couples into marriage before the first birth, as in these countries, the majority of first births are now to cohabiting mothers.…”