Divorced Parents

The divorce data probably under-estimates rates of divorce and separation among parents of the students of the class of 1955.

It was difficult to tell from the yellow cards if separate addresses meant separated or divorced parents, and there is evidence in some cases that the father’s address was his business address and the mother’s address the home address. Current students only coded yes for divorce if it was mentioned on the yellow card; thus the categories of this variable are “yes” and “missing.” It is for this reason that we say that the number of divorces is probably under-estimated for this population.

The Current Population Survey for 1950 records the nation’s divorce rate as 2 percent for men 15 years and older and 2.4 percent for women 15 years or older. Note that the age category for the divorce rate in the CPS probably under-estimates the divorce rate for older people like our population of MHC parents. Nonetheless, our estimates suggest a much higher proportion of divorced parents among MHC students than among the population at large in 1950.