Women's work and divorce: a matter of anticipation? A research note

The most common hypothesis on the positive association between wives' work and divorce is that the wife's work increases the risk of divorce. Critics argue that the causal direction is the other way around and that women adjust their working hours in anticipation of divorce. These competing hypotheses are tested by comparing the effects of wives' work between divorces that differ in the extent to which they were expected. Because women who do not expect to divorce are not able to adjust their working efforts prior to divorce, it is argued that, if anticipatory behaviour plays a role, the effect of wives' work should be smaller when the divorce was unexpected. The results lend weak support for anticipatory behaviour. The effect of wives' full-time work is smaller for unexpected divorces. However, the effect of full-time work is also relatively strong when the divorce was fully unexpected. Moreover, the effects of wives' work and working hours do not differ significantly between divorces varying in the extent to which they were expected. These findings suggest that there is something about wives' work that increases the divorce risk.