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Rationality and Society
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When and Why Do People Think There Should Be a Divorce?

An Application of the Factorial Survey

Heike Diefenbach

Chapel Cottage, King Street, Odiham, Hants, RG29 1NH, UK, heike.diefenbach{at}btinternet.com

Karl-Dieter Opp

Sulkyweg 22, 22159 Hamburg, Germany, opp{at}sozio.uni-leipzig.de

This article focuses on the conditions under which people think that spouses should or should not divorce. In order to explain acceptance of a more or less permissive divorce norm we draw on a theory of norm emergence, arguing that negative externalities of divorces and marriages and integration in divorce-supporting social networks are important determinants for the emergence of norms. We extend this theory by introducing interdependencies between externalities and by arguing that experiencing and suffering from a divorce are related to externalities. Results of a factorial survey indicate that a permissive divorce norm is subscribed to if the quality of the marriage is bad, if both partners have extramarital relationships, and if there are no children. The parents' divorce or having suffered from the parents' divorce does not have the expected direct effects on accepting a permissive divorce norm.

Key Words: norms • factorial survey • family • divorce • intergenerational transmission • social change

Rationality and Society, Vol. 19, No. 4, 485-517 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1043463107083738
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