Explaining the association between incarceration and divorce

Citation

Siennick, Sonja E.; Stewart, Eric A.; & Staff, Jeremy (2014). Explaining the association between incarceration and divorce. Criminology. vol. 52 (3) pp. 371-398 , PMCID: PMC4293638

Abstract

Recent studies have suggested that incarceration dramatically increases the odds of divorce, but we know little about the mechanisms that explain the association. This study uses prospective longitudinal data from a subset of married young adults in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 1,919) to examine whether incarceration is associated with divorce indirectly via low marital love, economic strain, relationship violence, and extramarital sex. The findings confirmed that incarcerations occurring during, but not before, a marriage were associated with an increased hazard of divorce. Incarcerations occurring during marriage also were associated with less marital love, more relationship violence, more economic strain, and greater odds of extramarital sex. Above-average levels of economic strain were visible among respondents observed preincarceration, but only respondents observed postincarceration showed less marital love, more relationship violence, and higher odds of extramarital sex than did respondents who were not incarcerated during marriage. These relationship problems explained approximately 40 percent of the association between incarceration and marital dissolution. These findings are consistent with theoretical predictions that a spouse's incarceration alters the rewards and costs of the marriage and the relative attractiveness of alternative partners.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12040

Keyword(s)

incarceration

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Criminology

Author(s)

Siennick, Sonja E.
Stewart, Eric A.
Staff, Jeremy

Year Published

2014

Volume Number

52

Issue Number

3

Pages

371-398

ISSN/ISBN

1745-9125

DOI

10.1111/1745-9125.12040

PMCID

PMC4293638

NIHMSID

NIHMS608462

Reference ID

4956