Historical Shifts in the Influences of Children and Education on Divorce Risks in Japan and the U.S.

Hiromi Ono, University of Michigan

The linkage between lower socioeconomic status and divorce is thought to increase with industrialization. According to Goode, with industrialization, the influence of individuals' achieved status on family patterns strengthens and the influence of kin status on family patterns weakens. However, the socioeconomic and cultural background of a society may alter the shifting linkages among lower socioeconomic status, kin, and divorce. For example, the Japanese may not experience the rise in divorce rates as a result of the increasingly disruptive influence of lower socioeconomic status. The increase in Japanese divorce rates may instead be the product of the increasingly disruptive influence of some types of kinship ties, namely children.