The Changing Educational Gradient of Union Dissolution across Europe: Is It Due to Timing and Probability Effects?

Raffaele Guetto, University of Florence
Anna Matysiak , University of Warsaw
Daniele Vignoli, University of Florence

The idea that the educational gradient of divorce turns from positive to negative as societal barriers to divorce reduce is widely accepted in the literature. The theoretical arguments justifying such reversal seem more related to the effect of education on the probability of experiencing divorce, rather than its timing. However, empirical studies have tested the hypothesis mostly through event history models, which make it difficult to disentangle timing and probability effects. We ask then whether there is an independent effect of education on the timing of union dissolution, and how it changes over time and space. We hypothesize that while for older cohorts probability effects may be dominant, for younger cohorts both timing and probability effects of education might be at work, potentially with different sign and magnitude. Hypotheses are tested applying different methodologies to disentangle timing and probability effects of education on union dissolution across several European countries.

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 Presented in Session 96. Union Dissolution 1