Skyrybų motyvai: individualūs, partnerystės, skyrybų proceso veiksniai
Divorce Motives: Effect of Individual, Partnership Level and Divorce Process Factors

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to analyze divorce motives and how they are linked with individual, partnership level and divorce process factors. Divorce motives are subjective accounts of the causes of divorce. Motives refer to perceptions and are different from structural causes of divorce, which often become the object of sociological inquiry. The paper is based on the analysis of the “Fathering after union dissolution” (2016) dataset, which collected information from men who experienced dissolution of the union with children. Research identified four groups of divorce motives: instrumental, expressive, behavioral and sexual or infidelity. Our main results suggest that divorce motives are associated with personality and education, partnership duration and some characteristics of divorce process. Men with lower individual resources more likely report instrumental divorce motives. Instrumental divorce motives are also positively associated with longer partnership duration. Divorce due to instrumental motives are less likely initiated by men. Expressive motives are positively associated with higher individual resources, are more pronounced in longer duration partnerships and initiated by men. Behavioral problems are more reported by men with lower individual resources, and union dissolutions most likely are initiated by women. Sexual and infidelity motives are positively associated with higher education. Overall, research on divorce motives contributes to the understanding of the structural causes of divorce. Our findings unpack meaning of relational stress, which more affects families of lower socio-economic standing.

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