U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Peter G. Peterson, Secretary James T. Lynn, Under Secretary Harold C. Passer, Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs Social and Economic Statistics Administration BUREAU OF THE CENSUS George Hay Brown, Director Conrad Taeuber, Associate Director for Demographic Fields POPULATION DIVISION Meyer Zitter, Acting Chief ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was prepared by Paul C. Glick, Assistant Chief, (Demographic and Major support for the preparation of tables was provided by the National Institute SUGGESTED CITATION U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 239, For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, 65 cents. Current Population Reports issued in Series P-20, P-23, P-25, P-26, P-27, P-28 (summaries only), P-60, and A. Percent distribution of persons born between 1900 and 1954 by number of times married, year of birth, race, and sex: June 1971. ... B. Duration of current marriage, for married women by race and number of times married: C. Percent of women born between 1900 and 1954 who had ever married by the midpoint of specified years, by year of birth and race: June 1971.. D. Median age at first marriage, for women born in 1900 to 1954 by selected stages of E. Percent of women born between 1900 and 1954 whose first marriage had ended in divorce by the midpoint of specified years, by year of birth and race: June 1971.... F. Percent distribution of women ever-married born between 1900 and 1954 by whether known to have been divorced or widowed, year of birth, and race: June 1971 G. Median age at divorce and remarriage, for women born between 1900 and 1954 by number of times married, year of birth, and race: June 1971 .... H. Percent of women born between 1900 and 1954 who had been married twice by the midpoint DETAILED TABLES 1. Year of birth by current marital status, whether (and how) first marriage ended, number of times married, race, and sex, for persons who were born between January 1900 and 2. Age at first marriage by year of birth, whether (and how) first marriage ended, number of times married, race, and sex, for persons who were born between January 1900 and 4. Age at latest remarriage by year of birth, how first marriage ended, number of times married, race, and sex, for persons who were born between January 1900 and December 1954: Survey date June 1971... 5. Age at end of latest remarriage by year of birth, how first and latest marriage ended, number of times married, race, and sex, for persons who were born between January 1900 and December 1954: Survey date June 1971... . 6. Period when first marriage occurred by year of birth, race, and sex, for persons ever married who were born between January 1900 and December 1954: Survey date June 1971.. 7. Period when divorce occurred after first marriage by year of birth, race, and sex, for persons whose first marriage ended in divorce and who were born between January 1900 and December 1954: Survey date June 1971 . . . . . . 8. Period when divorce occurred after latest remarriage by year of birth, race, and sex, for persons divorced after remarriage who were born between January 1900 and December 1954: Survey date June 1971 . . . . 9. Period when latest remarriage occurred by year of birth, race, and sex, for persons married twice who were born between January 1900 and December 1954: Survey date 10. Period when latest remarriage occurred by year of birth, race, and sex, for persons married three or more times who were born between January 1900 and December 1954: 11. Number of times married for household head and wife by age and race of husband, for married couples with the husband 14 to 71 years old: Survey date June 1971... 12. Number of times married for household head and wife by education of head and wife, by race of husband, for married couples with the husband 35 to 54 years old: Survey date June 1971. 13. Number of times married for household head and wife by family income and race of husband, for married couples with the husband 35 to 54 years old: Survey date June 1971..... 14. Number of times married for separated persons 14 to 71 years old by age at separation, 15. Number of times married for separated persons 14 to 71 years old by age at separation, duration of separation, race, and sex: Survey date June 1971 ... 16. Duration of current marriage by number of times married, age, race, and sex, for married MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND REMARRIAGE BY YEAR OF BIRTH: JUNE 1971 INTRODUCTION This report presents detailed results obtained from a survey on the marital history of men and women in the United States conducted in June 1971 by the Bureau of the Census, an agency within the Social and Economic Statistics Administration. The report includes information on when the first and last marriages began, and when and how the first and last marriages ended. Data are classified by year of birth, race, and sex. An earlier study of the marital history experiences of American men and women was made in 1967.1 In general, the text presentation discusses highlights of the data reported in detailed tables and is only illustrative of the kind of analyses that can be made from these data. small differences between figures. For further discussion of the sampling variability, see the section on "Reliability of the estimates." FIRST MARRIAGE AND REMARRIAGE BY YEAR OF BIRTH All but 4 percent of the women born between 1915 and 1919 (approximately 52 to 56 years old at the time of the survey), and all but 5 percent of the men born in the same period, have been married at least once. About 79 percent of these persons have been married once, 14 percent have been married twice, and 3 percent have been married three or more times (tables A and 1). Persons born in 1900 to 1904 had several more years in which to marry, yet 7 percent of them had never married; 74 percent had been married only once, and 16 percent had been married twice. Persons born between 1900 and 1954 were about 16 to 71 years old at the survey date. White persons born in this period were less likely than Negroes to have remained single until the survey date and were more likely to have been married only once. Thus, 22 percent of white men in this group were still single, compared with 29 percent of the Negro men. Seventeen percent of white women born in this period were still single, compared with 25 percent of the Negro women. Moreover, about 11 percent of the whites and 14 percent of the Negroes were remarried. Unless marriage patterns change substantially in the future, persons 45 to 54 years old have had most of the first marriages and divorces they will ever have. Among 78.5 percent of the couples with the husband in this age range in 1971, both the husband and the wife had been married only once; among 6.3 percent, both the husband and wife had been married twice; and among 0.6 percent, both had been married three or more times. The remaining 14.6 percent of the married couples with the husband 45 to 54 were distributed among various other combinations of times married for the husband and wife (table 11). Table A. Percent Distribution of Persons Born Between 1900 and 1954 by Number of Times Married, Year of Birth, Race, and Sex: June 1971 In general, the higher the family income and the educational level of the husband and wife, the greater the likelihood of both partners having been married only once (tables 12 and 13). In 71.7 percent of the households where the husband was 35 to 54 years old and the family income was less than $5,000, both the husband and the wife had been married only once. However, both had been married only once in 77.2 percent of the households where the family income was $5,000 to $9,999, 80.8 percent of those with an income of $10,000 to $14,999, and 83.0 percent of those with incomes of $15,000 or more. Both partners had been married only once in 75 percent of the households where neither the husband nor the wife was a high school graduate. But, in 83.1 percent of the households where the husband and the wife had graduated from high school were college graduates, the husband and wife had been married only once. MARRIAGE ANNIVERSARIES Of the 49.0 million married women in the United States in 1971, 15.9 million, or 32 percent, had celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of their current marriage, and 1.2 million, or 2.5 percent, had celebrated their fiftieth anniversary (tables B and 16). One-half of the married women who were still in their first marriage had been married less than 18.5 years and one-half had been married longer. Of those who were married to their second or subsequent husband, half had been married to their current husband less than 9.6 years and half had been married |