Recent changes in sex-role ideology among divorced men and women: Some possible causes and implications

Data from two Virginia Slims Surveys of American Women (1974 and 1979) are analyzed to test the hypotheses that sex-role value differences between men and women are greater in the divorced population than among married adults and that those differences have increased in recent years. The hypotheses are generally supported, and implications are drawn for the explanation of remarriage probabilities of divorced men and women. The explanation of the growing gender gap among the divorced is linked to recent changes in the position of women in the general economic structure.Revised version of a paper presented at the 1983 annual meetings of the Southwestern Social Science Association, Houston, Texas.