The consequences of early marriage on marital dissolution

Research has been consistent in docimenting the direct negative effect of early marriage on marital stability, while disagreeing over the level of influence of status attainment measures on divorce. Hovever. the discipline has failed to ccme to consensus on the complexity of these relationships: that early marriage may operate indirectly through mediating variables to Increase the likelihood of divorce. The focus of this paper is an analysis of a path model which includes the estimated effects of antecedents of early marriage, ear Iy marriage and education on the probability of divorce. Findings using the General Social Surveys support research that suggests that early marriage is the most irrportant variable influencing divorce. Further, little influence of the early marriage measure through education was found.