Marital Instability Over the Life Course [United States]: A Three-Wave Panel Study, 1980-1988

The purpose of this data collection was to identify the causes of marital instability throughout the life course. A national sample of married individuals 55 years of age or younger was interviewed by telephone in 1980 and reinterviewed in 1983 and 1988. Spouses were not interviewed. In the first wave of data the investigators focused on female labor force participation, while the next two waves were guided by a life course perspective. An attempt was made to link changes in items such as economic resources, wife's employment, presence of children, marital satisfaction, life goals, and health, to divorce, permanent separation, and other actions intended to dissolve a marriage. Background variables on respondents include age, sex, educational attainment, marital status and history, number of children, religious affiliation, and income level. Information also is supplied on relationship with in-laws, size of home, parents' employment, use of free time, club membership, child care arrangements, and responsibility for chores.