Fisher, Helen E.

Evolution of human serial pairbonding. - March, 1989

Data on divorce taken for all available years between 1947 and 1981 from the demographic yearbooks of the united nations on 58 peoples illustrate that divorce has a consistent pattern. Divorces exhibit a skewed distribution, characterized by the occurrence of the mode earlyin marriage (with a divorce peak on or around the fourth year) and a gradual , long-tailed decline following this peak. Divorce risk peaks in age category 25-29 for males and age categories 20-24 and 25-29 for females, the height of reproductive and parenting years, and divorce counts peak among couples with two or fewer children . These properties of divorce are unrelated to divorce rate; they occur in societies with both high and low divorce rates. Data on available horticultural and gathering /hunting societies illustrate that divorce also peaks among young couples early in marriage. Remarriage by divorced and widowed individuals or reproductive age is also common cross-culturally.

Divorce serial pairbonding paternal investment hominid evolution