Analysis of the British Household Panel Survey show that unemployment increases the risk of partnership dissolution. Low financial satisfaction in female partners can help explain why male unemployment is associated with partnership dissulution whereas financial satisfaction among men does not have similar implications.
NOVA researcher Morten Blekesaune deals with the issue in a working paper report published at the University of Essex.
Does unemployment increase the risk of partnership dissolution? Previous research shows that family conflicts are reported to be the most negative consequence of unemployment in the UK, and that unemployment in either partner can predict subsequent marital dissolution. This paper expands on previous research by also including cohabitations, and by investigating if unemployment effects are mediated by financial satisfaction and mental distress. It also considers the possibility that it is marital dissolution which leads to unemployment and that there are other stable characteristics of the intervals which could lead to unemployment as well as partnership dissolution.
Financial satisfaction
The results indicate that unemployment increases the risk of partnership dissolution. Female unemployment does not have smaller effect than male unemployment on the probability of marital breakdown, as indicated by previous Scandinavian research. Low financial satisfaction in female partners can help explain why male unemployment is associated with partnership dissolution whereas financial satisfaction among men does not have similar implications. The results imply that the woman´s experiences and concerns play a paramount role. They also indicate that men and women have different roles in partnerships. Providing financial security is seemingly more important to men than to women.
The study will be published as an article in the anthology Changing Families (Routledge) coming at the end of 2008. A preliminary version of the book chapter is published as a "Working Paper" from Institute of Social and Economic Research (University of Essex) June 2008.
Source:
Blekesaune, M. (2008). Unemployment and partnership dissolution. Institute for Social and Economic Research. Working Paper 2008-21. Colchester: University of Essex
Contact Morten Blekesaune for more information
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