Estimates and Meanings of Marital Separation

• Author: Zhenchao Qian,Dmitry Tumin,Siqi Han
• Published date: 01 February 2015
• Date: 01 February 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12149

D T, S H,  Z Q The Ohio State University

Estimates and Meanings of Marital Separation

Marital separation is an informal transition that

may precede or substitute for divorce. Various

surveys collect data on marital separation, but

the data have produced mixed estimates. The

authors used data from the 1995 and 2006

waves of the National Survey of Family Growth

(N=2,216) and the National Longitudinal Sur-

vey of Youth, 1979 cohort (NLSY79; N=1,990)

to examine separations among women born

between 1961 and 1965. In the National Survey

of Family Growth, separations were typically

short and followed by divorce. In the National

Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort,

separations were longer and less likely to end in

divorce. The authors relate these discrepancies

to differences in study design, question universe,

and question wording between the 2 surveys and

show that different measures of separation lead

to different conclusions about educational and

racial/ethnic inequalities in the trajectories of

marital disruption.

In recent decades, relationship transitions have

become increasingly decoupled from formal

changes in marital status (Cherlin, 2004). This

process has been especially apparent in the rise

of cohabitation, which has overtaken marriage

as the most common type of rst union (Cherlin,

2010). The distinction between marital separa-

tion and divorce is analogous to the distinction

between cohabitation and marriage (Amato,

2010; Bumpass & Raley, 2007). The transition

from marriage to separation marks a time when

Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, 238

TownshendHall, 1885 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH

43210 (tumin.1@osu.edu).

Key Words: divorce, marriage, reconciliation, separation.

the members of a couple begin “pulling apart”

from one another and negotiate over whether

and how the marriage should end (Radford et al.,

1997; Wineberg, 1994, 1996). Many couples

experience separation, and separations are often

short lived (Bramlett & Mosher, 2002; Ono,

1995). Separations also often lead to divorce,

but some couples may continue to maintain the

separation, or they may go back to the marriage

after reconciliation, a situation that resembles

the blurred boundaries of cohabitation, which

can begin and end without a change in legal

marital status (Manning & Smock, 2005). In

this study, we analyzed marital separations in a

single birth cohort using data from the National

Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort

(NLSY79; www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy79.htm) and

the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG;

www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg.htm). Our ndings

illustrate how survey design, criteria by which

respondents are selected to answer questions

about separation (i.e., question universe), and

the wording of questions about separation inu-

ence estimates of the incidence, duration, and

outcome of marital separations.

Marital separation often is an informal

arrangement between a husband and wife. In

the United States, marital separation is fre-

quently part of the divorce process (Bloom &

Hodges, 1981; McDaniel & Coleman, 2003;

Radford et al., 1997). Almost all Americans

who divorced between 1970 and 1988 experi-

enced a period of separation before the divorce

took effect (Ono, 1995). It is clear that marital

separation frequently signals the permanent

dissolution of a marital relationship, yet the

decision to separate is not necessarily equivalent

to the decision to divorce (Wineberg, 1996).

Separation offers a husband and wife the time

312 Journal of Marriage and Family 77 (February 2015): 312–322

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12149