tokens a conformity to social norms in general,in- more than a catalyst,as in the case of one wife, cluding the achievement of satisfactory material described below: standards and adequate family relationships. Communication really began to break down Some other findings are less obvious.There after approximately six years-though we were seems no very clear reason why second marriages still "happily'married.I felt emotionally should be likely to involve a drinking,gambling starved at being treated like a doormat.He was husband,except perhaps that the pool of eligible always working.He said it was all for our bene- fits (mine,his,and the children),but I feel he men is smaller the second time around,making it was also working in order to avoid facing our necessary to accept higher risk partners (Dean and problems.I felt so emotionally starved that when Gurak,1978).This finding,and also the complex another man started to notice me I couldn't help pattern of associations with religion and with but respond-although I did try to talk to my parents'marital status,would seem to merit fur- husband and wanted his help...I left my hus- ther investigation with an independent sample, band to go with this other man but left him ten preferably one not reliant on voluntary participa- days later and stayed with a girlfriend. tion.The seemingly high level of intermarriage be- The divorcing population has rapidly increased tween children of divorced/separated parents is in size in recent years and also has become also intriguing.Intergenerational transmission of younger (Cherlin,1981),particularly in Australia breakdown has been discussed rather extensively where,until recently,it was quite difficult to ob- in the literature,with various explanatory mecha- tain a divorce within the first five years of mar- nisms suggested (Kitson and Raschke,1981),but riage.In the face of such social change,it would this special form of homogamy does not appear to be foolhardy to place too much emphasis on the have been previously reported notion of a breakdown typology or even on uni- It is tempting to think in terms of a typology of variate associations found between structural marital breakdowns.The very large number of variables and marital complaints.Perhaps in the variables involved in each case makes this a hazar- future,long-suffering wives like the woman dous procedure (Thornes and Collard,1979),but quoted above will cease to exist!In the meantime, the data do seem to point to the existence of some many of the associations described above would rather distinctive types.The first,"general seem to merit further attention,ideally in a sam- stress,"factor obtained in the factor analysis ple representative of different cohorts of divorced seems to describe a situation of too much strain and separated couples on too few resources.When we recall the salience of conflicts over children among marriages per- ceived as breaking down in the 2-5 year period,it REFERENCES seems reasonable to conclude that the birth of children brings such marriages to the breaking Burns,A. 1980 Breaking Up:Separation and Divorce in point.The third factor seems to describe a hus- Australia.Melbourne:Nelson. band who is a poor marriage risk and quickly 1981 "Divorce and the children.''Australian Jour- recognized as such by his wife,as indicated by the nal of Sex,Marriage Family 2:17-26. association of husbands'drinking and cruelty Calahan,D.and Cisin,I.H. with perceived early breakdown.The fifth factor 1976 "Epidemiological and social factors associated is somewhat similar to the pattern described by with drinking problems."'In R.E.Tarter and Goode (1956)as husband's "helling around': A.A.Sugerman (Eds.),Alcoholism.Reading, since Goode's data were collected in the later MA:Addison-Wesley Cherlin,A 1940s,one might argue that any data pattern that 1981 Marriage,Divorce,Remarriage.Cambridge, repeats itself 30 years later in a different country MA:Harvard University Press. must correspond to something real.The second Congalton.A.A. and seventh factors both involve "unfaithful" 1969 Status and Prestige in Australia.Melbourne: wives,in association with different other condi Cheshire. tions.These patterns were described by men and Dean,G.and Gurak,D.T. women with almost equal frequency.Responses 1978 "Marital homogamy the second time to the open-ended items show,however,that around."Journal of Marriage and the Family when these patterns are described by a husband he 40(August):569-570. Fulton,J.A. almost always places heavy emphasis on the 1979 "Parental reports of children's post-divorce "other man''aspect,whereas when the wife tells adjustment."Journal of Social Issues 35(4): the story the other man emerges very often as little 126-139. August 1984 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 561 This content downloaded from 211.80.94.134 on Mon,19 Dec 2016 05:27:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/termstokens a conformity to social norms in general, in- cluding the achievement of satisfactory material standards and adequate family relationships. Some other findings are less obvious. There seems no very clear reason why second marriages should be likely to involve a drinking, gambling husband, except perhaps that the pool of eligible men is smaller the second time around, making it necessary to accept higher risk partners (Dean and Gurak, 1978). This finding, and also the complex pattern of associations with religion and with parents' marital status, would seem to merit fur- ther investigation with an independent sample, preferably one not reliant on voluntary participa- tion. The seemingly high level of intermarriage be- tween children of divorced/separated parents is also intriguing. Intergenerational transmission of breakdown has been discussed rather extensively in the literature, with various explanatory mecha- nisms suggested (Kitson and Raschke, 1981), but this special form of homogamy does not appear to have been previously reported. It is tempting to think in terms of a typology of marital breakdowns. The very large number of variables involved in each case makes this a hazar- dous procedure (Thornes and Collard, 1979), but the data do seem to point to the existence of some rather distinctive types. The first, "general stress," factor obtained in the factor analysis seems to describe a situation of too much strain on too few resources. When we recall the salience of conflicts over children among marriages per- ceived as breaking down in the 2-5 year period, it seems reasonable to conclude that the birth of children brings such marriages to the breaking point. The third factor seems to describe a hus- band who is a poor marriage risk and quickly recognized as such by his wife, as indicated by the association of husbands' drinking and cruelty with perceived early breakdown. The fifth factor is somewhat similar to the pattern described by Goode (1956) as husband's "helling around": since Goode's data were collected in the later 1940s, one might argue that any data pattern that repeats itself 30 years later in a different country must correspond to something real. The second and seventh factors both involve "unfaithful" wives, in association with different other condi- tions. These patterns were described by men and women with almost equal frequency. Responses to the open-ended items show, however, that when these patterns are described by a husband he almost always places heavy emphasis on the "other man" aspect, whereas when the wife tells the story the other man emerges very often as little more than a catalyst, as in the case of one wife, described below: Communication really began to break down after approximately six years-though we were still "happily" married. I felt emotionally starved at being treated like a doormat. He was always working. He said it was all for our bene- fits (mine, his, and the children), but I feel he was also working in order to avoid facing our problems. I felt so emotionally starved that when another man started to notice me I couldn't help but respond-although I did try to talk to my husband and wanted his help. .... I left my hus- band to go with this other man but left him ten days later and stayed with a girlfriend. The divorcing population has rapidly increased in size in recent years and also has become younger (Cherlin, 1981), particularly in Australia where, until recently, it was quite difficult to ob- tain a divorce within the first five years of mar- riage. In the face of such social change, it would be foolhardy to place too much emphasis on the notion of a breakdown typology or even on uni- variate associations found between structural variables and marital complaints. Perhaps in the future, long-suffering wives like the woman quoted above will cease to exist! In the meantime, many of the associations described above would seem to merit further attention, ideally in a sam- ple representative of different cohorts of divorced and separated couples. REFERENCES Burns, A. 1980 Breaking Up: Separation and Divorce in Australia. Melbourne:Nelson. 1981 "Divorce and the children." Australian Jour- nal of Sex, Marriage & Family 2:17-26. Calahan, D. and Cisin, I. H. 1976 "Epidemiological and social factors associated with drinking problems." In R. E. Tarter and A. A. Sugerman (Eds.), Alcoholism. Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley. Cherlin, A. 1981 Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press. Congalton, A. A. 1969 Status and Prestige in Australia. Melbourne: Cheshire. Dean, G. and Gurak, D. T. 1978 "Marital homogamy the second time around." Journal of Marriage and the Family 40 (August):569-570. Fulton, J. A. 1979 "Parental reports of children's post-divorce adjustment." Journal of Social Issues 35(4): 126-139. August 1984 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 561 This content downloaded from 211.80.94.134 on Mon, 19 Dec 2016 05:27:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms