Economic Consequences of Marital Dissolution for Hispanics

Abstract

This study is concerned with the economic well-being of Hispanic divorced men and women. A cross-sectional data set of GSS Hispanic respondents for 1972-'94 is used. Family incomes of divorced women and men are compared with their married counterparts for five SES categories. For females, incomes of divorced persons were lower than incomes of married persons; for males no significant difference appeared. Family incomes were regressed against a set of four control variables and a marital status variable. The marital status variable was statistically significant for three of the five SES categories for females. This was not true for males. Policy and clinical implications are considered.

Key Words:

• Economic well-being
• divorce
• Hispanic
• socioeco-nomic status
• marital status