Volume 6 - Article 11 | Pages 295–324  

Differences in Family Policies and the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce: A Comparison between the former East and West Germany

By Henriette Engelhardt, Heike Trappe, Jaap Dronkers

Abstract

The intergenerational transmission of the risk of divorce is a well-known long-term effect of divorce that has been found in many Western societies. Less known is what effect different family policies and divorce laws have on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. In this paper, the division of Germany into two separate states from 1949 until 1990, with the consequent development of two very different family policies, is regarded as a natural experiment that enables us to investigate the effect of family policy on the mechanisms underlying the social inheritance of divorce.
Data from respondents from the former East and West Germany participating in the German Life History Study are analyzed using multivariate event-history methods. The results indicate that the strength of the intergenerational divorce transmission, when adjusted for differences in divorce level, was lower in the East than in the West. Differences in religion, marriage age and timing of first birth, which are partial indicators of family policy, could explain this effect. Furthermore, we did find a tendency towards a reduction in the dynamics of divorce transmission over time, both in East Germany and in West Germany.

Author's Affiliation

• Henriette Engelhardt - Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Germany EMAIL
• Heike Trappe - Universität Rostock, Germany EMAIL
• Jaap Dronkers - Maastricht University, the Netherlands EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Family inequality: On the changing educational gradient of family patterns in Western Germany
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The gendered division of labor and its perceived fairness: Implications for childbearing in Germany
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Intergenerational transmission of fertility timing in Germany
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Not a zero-sum game: Migration and child well-being in contemporary China
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On the age-specific correlation between fertility and female employment: Heterogeneity over space and time in OECD countries
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Austria: Persistent low fertility since the mid-1980s
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On the tempo and quantum of first marriages in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland: Changes in mean age and variance
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Pathways to stepfamily formation in Europe: Results from the FFS
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