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This article reviews key developments in the past decade of research on divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies. Divorce rates are declining overall, but they remain high and have risen among people older than age 50. Remarriage rates have declined, but the overall proportion of marriages that are remarriages is rising. Transitions in parents' relationships continue to be associated with reduced child well‐being, but shifting patterns of divorce and repartnering during the past decade have also reshaped the family lives of older adults. We review research on the predictors and consequences of these trends and consider what they reveal about the changing significance of marriage as an institution. Overall, recent research on divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies points to the persistence of marriage as a stratified and stratifying institution and indicates that the demographic complexity of family life is here to stay.

Abstract Positive social relationships, such as high-quality marriages, are associated with better health, especially among older adults. Moreover, negative components in marriages (i.e., disagreements and associated emotional responses) are linked to negative outcomes such as marital disruption (McGonagle et al., 1993) and divorce (Markman et al., 2010). Factors such as marital conflicts and emotion expression threaten marital stability and health and have been shown to decrease with age and in collectivist cultures (i.e., Japan compared to U.S.; Kitayama et al., 2015; Matsunaga & Imahori, 2009). While anger has featured as a specific emotion associated with compromised health and marital quality (Carrère et al., 2005), less is known about how marital conflict and the expression of anger may contribute to marital instability in later life, or differences in these links across age and culture. Using data from married respondents participating in the second wave of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS, n=750, Mage=55.18, SD=11.5, %Female=50.13%) study or first wave of the Midlife in Japan (MIDJA; n=706, Mage=55.26, SD=13.68, %Female=47.73%) studies, we examined associations between disagreements, anger expression, and marital risk. Preliminary analyses revealed that marital disagreements and anger expression were each associated with increased marital instability in both the MIDUS and MIDJA samples (ps<.05). Additionally, the effects of marital disagreements and anger expression did not differ between the two samples or as a function of age. Discussion will focus on the relevance of expression and regulation of emotions for understanding marital (in)stability in midlife and aging and across cultures.

This article critically evaluates the available data on trends in divorce in the United States. We find that both vital statistics and retrospective survey data on divorce after 1990 underestimate recent marital instability. These flawed data have led some analysts to conclude that divorce has been stable or declining for the past three decades. Using new data from the American Community Survey and controlling for changes in the age composition of the married population, we conclude that there was actually a substantial increase in age-standardized divorce rates between 1990 and 2008. Divorce rates have doubled over the past two decades among persons over age 35. Among the youngest couples, however, divorce rates are stable or declining. If current trends continue, overall age-standardized divorce rates could level off or even decline over the next few decades. We argue that the leveling of divorce among persons born since 1980 probably reflects the increasing selectivity of marriage.

Objective To examine psychological health as a mechanism linking economic pressure and marital instability in the early middle years to poor physical health in later life. Background Although previous research suggests that sustained stressful marital experience may lead to mental and physical health problems, little is known about how contextual factors, such as economic pressure, impact marital outcomes, and how changes in marital attributes influence health outcomes in a longitudinal and dyadic context. Method Utilizing an actor‐partner interdependence model within a latent growth curve approach and prospective data from couples in enduring marriages, we examined the associations between family economic pressure, marital instability, and mental health over their early middle years (1989–1994) and subsequent physical health in later adulthood (2015). Analyses assessed a couple‐level pathway and an individual pathway involving within‐spouse and between‐spouse effects. Results During the middle years, family financial difficulties were linked to reduced marital stability, which was associated with increased mental health challenges. The findings also reinforced the salient role of psychological distress for subsequent physical health outcomes as husbands' and wives' anxiety symptoms over their early middle years contributed to declines in their physical health outcomes in later adulthood. A partner effect was noted between husbands' anxiety and wives' physical health. Conclusion For couples, experiences of financial and marital stress in their early middle years can have long‐lasting detrimental impacts on their physical health in later adulthood.

Popular discussions of changes in American families over the past 60 years have revolved around the “retreat from marriage.” Concern has focused on increasing levels of nonmarital childbearing, as well as falling marriage rates that stem from both increases in the age at first marriage and greater marital instability. Often lost in these discussions is the fact that the decline of marriage has coincided with a rise in cohabitation. Many “single” Americans now live with a domestic partner and a substantial fraction of “single” mothers are cohabiting, often with the child's father. The share of women who have ever cohabited has nearly doubled over the past 25 years, and the majority of nonmarital births now occur to cohabiting rather than to unpartnered mothers at all levels of education. The emergence of cohabitation as an alternative to marriage has been a key feature of the post–World War II transformation of the American family. These changes in the patterns and trajectories of family structure have a strong socioeconomic gradient. The important divide is between college graduates and others: individuals who have attended college but do not have a four-year degree have family patterns and trajectories that are very similar to those of high school graduates.

Background: Before data existed on premarital cohabitation and divorce, scholars assumed that the experience of premarital cohabitation would select compatible couples into marriage and lead to lower rates of divorce. The advent of data on premarital cohabitation and divorce overturned the early preconceptions, as premarital cohabitation was found to be associated with higher rates of divorce. Premarital cohabitation has risen dramatically in the United States. Scholars disagree about whether the divorce rates of premarital cohabiters and noncohabiters have converged. Method: A harmonized data set of 6 waves of the retrospective National Surveys of Family Growth (with 216,455 couple-years) is analyzed with discrete time-event history methods to predict marital dissolution. The data are nationally representative of women aged 44 years and younger in first marriages in the United States for 1970 to 2015. Different criteria for model selection are discussed. Results: The results show that in the first year of marriages, couples who cohabited before marriage have a lower marital dissolution rate than couples who did not cohabit before marriage, a difference that may be due to the practical experience of cohabitation, as couples who have cohabited learned to adapt to each other. We find that the association between marital dissolution and premarital cohabitation has not changed over time or across marriage cohorts. The benefits of cohabitation experience in the first year of marriage has misled scholars into thinking that the most recent marriage cohorts will not experience heightened marital dissolution due to premarital cohabitation. Conclusion: Premarital cohabitation has short-term benefits and longer term costs for marital stability.

Objective We test whether perceived similarity of partners' financial values is associated with marital satisfaction and stability and whether financial communication mediates these associations. Background Although many studies have found links between finances and marital satisfaction, marital stability has been understudied. Additionally, many studies have examined the impact of couple financial behaviors on marital outcomes but have failed to account for the role of financial values in shaping those behaviors. Couple and finances theory motivated the study and guided our hypotheses. Method We used dyadic data from the Couple Relationships and Transition Experiences project, a nationally representative sample of newlyweds (N = 1,700 different‐sex couples). We conducted an actor–partner interdependence model to test direct and indirect associations. Results Partners who perceived similar financial values are better able to communicate with their spouse about money, which in turn predicts marital satisfaction and stability. We found both actor and partner associations and evidence of both full and partial mediation. Conclusion Our results support previous research demonstrating the importance of shared financial values in understanding relationship outcomes. Additionally, financial communication is a mechanism linking these constructs. Implications Our findings may inform interventions for increasing marital satisfaction and stability and for improving couple financial communication.

Meta-analytic methods were used to analyze 179 effect sizes retrieved from 32 research reports on the implications that sexual minority stress may have for same-sex relationship well-being. Sexual minority stress (aggregated across different types of stress) is moderately and negatively associated with same-sex relationship well-being (aggregated across different dimensions of relationship well-being). Internalized homophobia is significantly and negatively associated with same-sex relationship well-being, whereas heterosexist discrimination and sexual orientation visibility management are not. Moreover, the effect size for internalized homophobia is significantly larger than those for heterosexist discrimination and sexual orientation visibility management. Sexual minority stress is significantly and negatively associated with same-sex relationship quality but not associated with closeness or stability. Sexual minority stress is significantly and negatively associated with relationship well-being among same-sex female couples but not among same-sex male couples. The current status of research approaches in this field is also summarized and discussed.

Women are increasingly represented in high status organizational positions. While the advancement of women into high status roles offers them many organizational benefits, the spillover and crossover effects of these high status positions on their marital relationships remain under explored. In this study, we focus on potential costs to the marital relationship when women in high status positions hold higher job status roles than their husbands. First, we examine the spillover effects of wives’ job status relative to their husbands’ on marital instability. We suggest that this relationship is indirect and mediated by negative thoughts and feelings toward their partners’ lower job status (which we refer to as “wives’ status leakage”) and decreased relationship satisfaction. Second, we investigate plausible crossover effects on husbands’ marital instability when wives have higher job status and suggest that husbands’ spousal support can moderate the indirect relationship between wives’ job status and wives’ marital instability. We explored these questions on 209 women in positions of high job status, a sample of 53 matched husband–wife dyads, and 92 of the wives who also completed questionnaires three years later. Full cross-sectional and longitudinal support emerged for the indirect spillover effects of wives’ job status on marital instability of wives, and direct crossover effects on husbands’ marital instability. In addition, the indirect relationship between wives’ job status on marital instability of wives was moderated by instrumental support. Theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research suggestions are discussed. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1120 .

An ongoing question remains for family researchers: Why does a positive association between cohabitation and marital dissolution exist when one of the primary reasons to cohabit is to test relationship compatibility? Drawing on recently collected data from the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth, the authors examined whether premarital cohabitation experiences were associated with marital instability among a recent contemporary (married since 1996) marriage cohort of men (N = 1,483) and women (N = 2,003). They found that a dichotomous indicator of premarital cohabitation was in fact not associated with marital instability among women and men. Furthermore, among cohabitors, marital commitment prior to cohabitation (engagement or definite plans for marriage) was tied to lower hazards of marital instability among women, but not men. This research contributes to our understanding of cohabitation, marital instability, and broader family change.