Employment and divorce among Dutch women born between 1903 and 1937

Women's increased economic independence is often regarded as a major contributor to the rise in the divorce rate since the 1960s. The rise in female labor-force participation and educational attainment has eroded the benefits of the traditional gender division within marriage and reduced the negative financial consequences of divorce. Women's employment may also undermine traditional marital role expectations and increase stress and marital conflict. In contrast to other countries, the Netherlands has seen virtually no empirical support for this economic independence hypothesis to date. This article tests this hypothesis by examining women born between 1903 and 1937. The results of multivariate analyses confirm the economic independence hypothesis: both a high level of education and labor-force participation significantly increase women's likelihood of divorce.     

CULTURE, DIVORCE, AND FAMILY MEDIATION IN HONG KONG

Over the past three decades, Hong Kong has witnessed unprecedented economic prosperity, a decrease in family solidarity, an increase in social problems, and a dramatic rise in the incidence of divorce. Under colonial rule for 150 years, which ended with the return of sovereignty to China in 1997, the identity of the Hong Kong Chinese is a combination of traditional Chinese and modern Western culture. Despite Western influences, Chinese cultural heritage remains the major source of influence in all aspects of life. This article presents a summary of traditional Chinese culture, characteristics of contemporary Hong Kong society, factors believed to influence the high divorce rate, and the impact of divorce on Hong Kong families. The development, use, acceptability, and effectiveness of mediation in Hong Kong is reviewed, and suggestions for adapting it to Chinese families are proposed. Direction for future development of mediation in Hong Kong focuses on the need for further research to develop a scientifically sound knowledge base that will help to inform culturally competent mediation practice.     

EXPLAINING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN INCARCERATION AND DIVORCE

Recent studies have suggested that incarceration dramatically increases the odds of divorce, but we know little about the mechanisms that explain the association. This study uses prospective longitudinal data from a subset of married young adults in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 1,919) to examine whether incarceration is associated with divorce indirectly via low marital love, economic strain, relationship violence, and extramarital sex. The findings confirmed that incarcerations occurring during, but not before, a marriage were associated with an increased hazard of divorce. Incarcerations occurring during marriage also were associated with less marital love, more relationship violence, more economic strain, and greater odds of extramarital sex. Above‐average levels of economic strain were visible among respondents observed preincarceration, but only respondents observed postincarceration showed less marital love, more relationship violence, and higher odds of extramarital sex than did respondents who were not incarcerated during marriage. These relationship problems explained approximately 40 percent of the association between incarceration and marital dissolution. These findings are consistent with theoretical predictions that a spouse's incarceration alters the rewards and costs of the marriage and the relative attractiveness of alternative partners.     

Battered Women's Perceptions and Expectations of Their Current and Ideal Marital Relationship

This study explores the current perceptions and ideal expectations battered women have for their marital relationships. Based on previous research on the Circumplex model of Olson (1979), it was hypothesized that battered women's current and ideal relationships would be categorized as Extreme according to this Model. The Extreme categorization has been associated with a variety of forms of family dysfunction. The Family Adaptability and Cohesiveness Evaluation Scales and Demographic Questionnaires were completed by 57 women during their stay at one of two Women's shelters, in addition to 22 in outpatient therapy through one of the shelters. Analyses revealed significant support for the current relationship hypothesis. As predicted, current perceptions fell into the Extreme category; ideal expectations more frequently fell into the Balanced family type. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed; suggestions for directions that future research in this area might take, are offered.     

婚姻法修改中几个争议问题的探讨

本文对婚姻法修改中几个有争议的问题进行了理论探讨 ,指出 :共同财产制更能反映婚姻的本质和特征 ,我国法定夫妻财产制应由夫妻共同财产和夫妻个人特有财产两部分构成 ;约定夫妻财产制应从其功能出发选择立法模式 ;改“夫妻感情确已破裂”为“婚姻关系确已破裂”作为判决离婚的理由 ,这一改变不意味着放宽离婚条件或增加离婚难度 ,离婚与社会稳定之间没有直接关系。     

Economic origins of the no-fault divorce revolution

Richard Posner argues that late twentieth-century divorce-law reform rendered marital relationships in the United States increasingly contractual in nature. Chief among such reforms was the no-fault divorce revolution: the widespread switch in states’ legal regimes from fault-based, mutual-consent divorce to no-fault based, unilateral divorce, which swept across America in the 1970s. While a growing literature considers the no-fault divorce revolution’s effects on divorce rates, almost no work considers its causes. Taking Posner’s observation as its starting point, this paper develops testable hypotheses relating to the potential origins of no-fault divorce reforms in the US.     

ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND LEVELS OF HOMICIDE: AN ANALYSIS OF URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS*

This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between levels of economic inequality and homicide rates for a sample of 26 neighborhoods in Manhattan, New York. It argues that neighborhoods are more appropriate units of analysis for studying inequality and homicide than are larger political and statistical units because neighborhoods are more likely to constitute meaningful frames of reference for social comparisons. The principle hypothesis is that a high degree of economic inequality in a neighborhood will give rise to high levels of relative deprivation and high rates of homicide. The results of a series of multiple regression analyses fail to support this hypothesis. The measure of economic inequality is weakly associated with the observed homicide rates. Similarly, the racial composition of Manhattan neighborhoods exhibits no significant association with levels of homicide, given statistical controls for other sociodemographic variables. Two neighborhood characteristics do emerge as significant predictors of homicide rates: the relative size of the poverty population and the percent divorced or separated. Homicide rates tend to be highest in those neighborhoods characterized by extreme poverty and pervasive marital dissolution.     

Irish Matrimonial Property Division in Practice: a Case Study

This article analyses patterns of property division on maritalbreakdown in Ireland. At present, little information is availableon the operation of marital breakdown legislation (the FamilyLaw Act 1995 and the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996). This isprimarily due to a strict in camera rule, which has preventedproper study of judicial decisions; lack of reporting and ofwritten judgments are also problems. Little information is availableon the nature or frequency of property orders or agreements.Consequently, practical evaluation and informed policy discussionhave been severely curtailed. In an attempt to fill this gap,this study analyses 89 divorce, separation and judicial separationcases, using data collected from 44 private and Legal Aid familylaw practitioners in multiple locations. The principal focusis on the types of orders or agreements made and the reasons(if any) given for those orders. Differences between privatepractice and Legal Aid cases are considered, as are regionalvariations in orders. Consent and contested outcomes are contrasted,as are divorce and judicial separation cases. The impact offactors such as gender, age, employment status, dependent childrenand marriage duration is analysed. The conclusion highlightskey issues and discrepancies which may give rise to concern.     

Secrets and Lies: The Queen's Proctor and Judicial Investigation of Party Controlled Narratives

Driven by the fear of collusion in the new divorce court, in 1860 Parliament authorized the Queen's Proctor to intervene in divorce suits by rooting out information that the parties left undisclosed. This paper explores the activities of the Queen's Proctor in its first quarter century, revealing both the curious genealogy of community participation in the Queen's Proctor's efforts and the struggle over the definition of collusion. Over time, economic and evidentiary concerns prompted the Queen's Proctor to turn from uncovering collusion to producing evidence of adultery. The Queen's Proctor represents a striking attempt by courts to assess the validity of party-controlled narratives, resulting in surprising practical consequences. Evaluation of narratives quickly devolved into a bright-line test focusing on adultery, with judges following the Queen's Proctor's lead and eschewing discretion.     

CURRENT RESEARCH ON CHILDREN'S POSTDIVORCE ADJUSTMENT

This article reviews the current research on the effects of marital conflict, parental adjustment, custody, and access on children following divorce. Evidence from research demonstrates that significantly more adjustment problems confront children, especially boys, of divorced parents compared to those in never-divorced families. However, when assessed in years following the divorce, these children are functioning in normal limits and do not appear "disturbed," although the media report the opposite. The article discusses an important British study finding that marital conflict and not the divorce affect children and that divorce may mitigate some of the more destructive effects. The analysis of research dealing with joint custody brings together both current and ongoing studies. A surprising finding in one study was that mothers who share custody are more satisfied than those having sole custody and whose children see their father periodically. However, both groups expressed more satisfaction with their residential arrangement than did sole-custody mothers whose children had no paternal contact. Court-ordered joint custody was less satisfactory than when the parents voluntarily agreed to that arrangement, and spouses reporting high levels of marital conflict tended to do less well in joint custody arrangements than did families with less conflict.     

论民法典法定离婚理由的设计及残疾人权益保护

正在制定的我国《民法典·婚姻家庭编》(草案)第856条是整个离婚制度的核心。其立法主张和立法技术彰显了整个离婚制度的价值追求和逻辑体系。但是,从整个制度设计上看,其也存在利益失衡和逻辑失范之处。其概括条款"其他导致夫妻感情破裂的情形"缺乏对"重大"和"有责配偶请求权"的限制,整个离婚理由缺乏"苛刻条款"等平衡弱势配偶权益的制度设计。上述缺陷对残疾人离婚权益保护具有负面影响,借助对残疾人离婚案件实证分析所得出的数据,参考世界最新立法例和国际社会最新相关成果,增设"重大情形""残疾人配偶提出离婚需设限制性条件""苛刻条款"以及限缩"第830条重大疾病范围"等立法建议,将对《民法典·婚姻家庭编》(草案)离婚制度构建中残疾人婚姻权益保障有所裨益。     

我国离婚经济补偿制度的立法完善

离婚经济补偿制度对于提升家务劳动的社会价值,保护对家庭做出较多贡献一方的合法权益,具有十分重要的意义。但同国外离婚救济制度相比较,我国的离婚经济补偿制度在理论设计上还存在不足,实践中可操作性不强,立法目的实现的预期效果不能令人满意。因此,应完善离婚经济补偿制度的立法设计,使之更具可操作性。     

Friends of the Court: Examining the Influence of Amicus Curiae Participation in U.S. Supreme Court Litigation

Amicus curiae participation is a staple of interest group activity in the U.S. Supreme Court. While a reasonably large body of scholarship has accumulated regarding the effectiveness of this method of participation, little attention has been paid to examining the reasons why amicus participation might increase litigation success. In this article, I test two separate, but not mutually exclusive, theories as to why amicus briefs may be effective. The first, the affected groups hypothesis, suggests amicus briefs are influential because they signal to the Court how many groups and individuals will be potentially affected by the decision. The second, the information hypothesis, proposes that amicus briefs are effective because they provide the Court with added information that buttresses the arguments of the direct parties. When subjected to empirical verification, the results indicate that not only does amicus participation increase litigation success, but also that this influence may be best explained by the information hypothesis.     

Child naming,religion, and the decline of marital fertility in nineteenth-century america

Demographic historians have long suspected that cultural factors played an important role in the early decline of fertility in nineteenth-century America. Using the recently released 1850 and 1880 IPUMS samples, this article investigates correlates of marital fertility among native-born white women of native parentage, focusing on the relationship between religion and fertility. Two proxies of religious sentiment are found to be significantly correlated with marital fertility. First, county-level census data indicate that the presence of Congregationalists and Universalists was associated with lower marital fertility, while the presence of Lutherans was associated with higher marital fertility. Second, the proportion of own children with biblical names—believed to be a proxy of parental religiosity—is found to be positively associated with marital fertility. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that traditional religious beliefs were an impediment to the adoption of family limitation strategies.     

SHOULD PREMARITAL COUNSELING BE MANDATORY AS A REQUISITE TO OBTAINING A MARRIAGE LICENSE?

Despite the fundamental importance of marriage in forming the foundation of family and society, divorce in the United States has become a common occurrence with disruptive consequences immediately affecting the children, the family, and society at large. The state therefore has a strong and legitimate interest in strengthening marriage by mandating premarital counseling for all couples contemplating marriage. Premarital counseling is a program that offers the necessary guidance to assist couples in evaluating their readiness to enter marriage, and allows couples to enter marriage with greater understanding and certainty. As a result, mandatory premarital counseling will promote stability in the marital and family relationship and help to reduce marital discord.     

Child naming,religion, and the decline of marital fertility in nineteenth-century america

Demographic historians have long suspected that cultural factors played an important role in the early decline of fertility in nineteenth-century America. Using the recently released 1850 and 1880 IPUMS samples, this article investigates correlates of marital fertility among native-born white women of native parentage, focusing on the relationship between religion and fertility. Two proxies of religious sentiment are found to be significantly correlated with marital fertility. First, county-level census data indicate that the presence of Congregationalists and Universalists was associated with lower marital fertility, while the presence of Lutherans was associated with higher marital fertility. Second, the proportion of own children with biblical names—believed to be a proxy of parental religiosity—is found to be positively associated with marital fertility. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that traditional religious beliefs were an impediment to the adoption of family limitation strategies.     

论中国民法典婚姻家庭编的立法理念与制度新规

《民法典》婚姻家庭编的编纂,根据加强国家对婚姻家庭的保护、倡导重视家庭文明建设、尊重婚姻家庭当事人的意思自治、注重夫妻婚姻家庭地位的平等、注重儿童最大利益原则的贯彻、注意保护婚姻家庭弱者的权益等立法理念,新增或修改补充了24项制度或规则,主要包括:在"一般规定"章中,新增婚姻家庭受国家保护原则,增设婚姻家庭文明建设的倡导性规定,确立最有利于被收养人原则,界定亲属的种类、近亲属和家庭成员的范围;在"结婚"章中,减少禁止结婚和无效婚姻的法定事由,修改补充可撤销婚姻制度,新增重大疾病的如实告知义务、婚姻无效或被撤销无过错方的损害赔偿请求权;在"家庭关系"章中,新增夫妻家事代理权及其限制规则、夫妻共同债务认定规则、婚内析产规则、亲子关系的确认与否认之诉规则;在"离婚"章中,新增离婚冷静期、婚姻关系解除的时间,补充诉讼离婚准予离婚的法定事由、离婚时处理子女抚养问题规则、离婚夫妻共同财产分割原则,修改离婚经济补偿、离婚经济帮助的适用条件,增加离婚损害赔偿法定事由的兜底条款;在"收养"章中,放宽被收养人的年龄和收养子女的人数限制,修改收养人的条件,增加收养评估规则等。     

职代会的定位与功能重塑

职代会制度是我国颇具特色的一项职工参与制度。随着市场经济体制的建立以及企业治理制度的变革，职代会的地位和作用发生了变化，需要重新审视职代会的正当性。目前，有关职工参与的各种理论从不同角度论证了职代会的正当性，职代会对完善公司治理、加强公司监督、维护公司利益也具有积极作用。我国应通过完善职代会设立规则、职权设置，使传统的职代会与市场经济体制下的现代公司治理机制相契合，让职代会成为职工与企业协商沟通的主要平台，在新的体制环境下发挥协商和监督等功能。     

EMOTIONAL DISTRESS IN CHILDREN OF HIGH-CONFLICT DIVORCE

This study examines factors that contribute to the emotional distress of children whose parents experience an acrimonious divorce with conflict over custody and visitation issues. Information was gathered systematically from guardian ad litem reports on 105 children in order to explore the child's emotional distress in response to individual-, parental-, marital-, and custody–related factors. Findings emphasize the impact of the level of marital conflict in predicting increases in the child's emotional distress. The child who witnesses domestic violence and experiences child malmatment suffers a powerful cumulative impact from these factors. which results in a steep increase in emotional distress symptoms. A cluster of relevantfactors taken jointly, including the level of marital conflict, violence against a partner or against the child, the parent's mental health, the child's medical condition, and the nature of visitation changes, all contribute signifcantly to the child's emotional distress.     

Where did the first divorced people live in Paris and its suburbs?

ABSTRACT

Following the law of 1884 that re-authorised divorce in France, divorce was more frequent in the large cities before spreading to other urban areas and then to rural ones. Divorce rates were especially high in the Seine département from 1884 to the eve of the First World War. In this region, divorced people lived more frequently in Paris than in the suburbs. More precisely, they resided more often on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris proper (intra-muros) and, as an extension of this area, in the suburban cities to the west and, to the east, around the Bois de Vincennes. A comparison of the share of divorced men and women to the economic, demographic and cultural characteristics of the 20 Paris arrondissements and 74 suburban municipalities in the Seine département shows that a portion of the spatial distribution can be explained by the occupational structures of the area. Divorced people seldom lived in the most rural areas. This urban/rural divide can be explained by two main factors that can be complementary: the economic possibility to divorce – and here we will add the economic possibility for women to leave live alone after a divorce – and the social and cultural acceptance of divorce.