A Research Proposal on Wive's Income and Marital Quality

             Wives" Income and Marital Quality: Are There Reciprocal Effects?.

            

             Increases in wives" income over time will contribute to increases in marital discord. (Expect strong effect on husbands" report of marital discord.).

             2. Increase in wives" income over time will contribute to decreases in marital discord. (Expect husbands and wives to be about the same.).

             3. Increases in perceived marital discord over time will contribute to increases in wives income. (Expect marital discord on wives" income stronger for wives than husbands.).

             Methods Used.

             Used data from Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study (1991). This was a 4-wave panel study that began in 1980 with random telephone interviews of 2,034 married individuals (not couples), younger than 55 using the clustered random-digit dialing procedure. Of the people called, 65 % completed the survey, 18% refused, and 17% were unreachable after 10 or more callbacks.

             Respondents were similar to national population of married individuals on age, race, region, household size, presence of children, and home ownership.

             Attempts to reinterview the same respondents took place in 1983, 1988, and 1992. Successful reinterviews were 78%, 66%, and 58% respectively. A decision was made to use date from 1980-1988 as these years showed the most dramatic change in married women"s employment and earnings. Also, the results of the 1992 interview had slight underreporting of younger, renter, African-American or Hispanic, and those without a college education in 1980.

             Respondents consisted of a total of 455 women and 316 men who were in a stable marriage from 1980-1988; a first marriage for both spouses. The study was restricted to continuous first marriages because previous evidence suggested relationships between income and marital quality differs depending on marriage order. Remarried families have lower incomes, fewer assets on average. Remarried women are more likely to be employed 40 hours or more per week than continuously married women.

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