In this dissertation, I advance a model of marriage as a relationship of economic interdependence. To do this I replicate, update, and revise previous research by Sorensen and McLanahan (1987). I use data from the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 1997 Current Population Surveys as well as the 1970 Census 5% Public Use Samples. Not surprisingly, I find that the proportion of the joint income provided by wives has increased over the 27 year time period, though it appears to be slowing in the 1990s. I expand on the models developed by the original researchers by incorporating measures of husbands' and wives' occupational characteristics and husbands economic well-being. While married women's returns to their hours of employment increased in 1980 and 1990 relative to 1970, in 1997 married women's returns to their hours of employment were not significantly higher than their 1970 levels. I am unable to determine if this lack of improvement is due to declining employment conditions for married women or improved employment conditions for men. When I examine the effects of husbands' income deciles on wives' contributions, I find that economically disadvantaged husbands are more reliant on their wives for economic support and, moreover, that this dependence has increased over time. I find no significant differences in Black and white wives' incomes contributions when their husbands have approximately the same income. I conclude that economic interdependence is the most appropriate model for contemporary marriages / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_24129 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Contributors | Jones, Rachel Kathleen (Author), Brayfield, April (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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