Changing Places: Conjugal Careers and Women's Marital Mobility

This paper investigates the relationship between the socioeconomic status of successive husbands for two national [U.S.] samples of women who married two or more times. Data are from a sample of 743 women included in the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women and 413 younger women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women of 1967 who were followed up after remarriage in 1978. "Socioeconomic homogamy as indicated by the educational attainment and occupational status of spouses is quite similar in first and second marriages for both cohorts. On average the socioeconomic standing of husbands in subsequent marriages is about equal to those in previous marriages when one adjusts for the career trajectories of the men involved. Socioeconomic variables timing and the presence of children all influence the chances of finding an accomplished second husband. The implications of these findings for the welfare of children of disrupted families and for future trends in the socioeconomic homogamy are discussed." (EXCERPT)