Union Disruption in Sweden

:This article investigates whether economic dependency is negatively related to separation in Sweden by examining the Swedish Level-of-Living Surveys coupled with annual register data on income. This provides the opportunity to study the relative income and the family status of a random sample of the adult population during (most of) a twenty-four-year window, 1966–90. Women’s contribution to the household income increased from around 20 percent in the mid-to late 1960s to 35–40 percent in the early 1990s. This may be a partial explanation for increasing rates of union disruption in Sweden. We find some, though not unequivocal, support for the hypothesis that the less economically dependent one spouse is on the other, the higher the risks of union dissolution. There is little support for the assumption that the total household income is negatively related to risks of separation, however.