Strong Family Ties and Divorce in Japan

Divorce has rapidly increased since the 1970s in Japan. Existing research suggests that the expansion of socio-economic disparities with deteriorating macro-economic performance is a major cause of the rising divorce rate. However, not only socio-economic factors but also family background characteristics may play an important role, particularly in a ‘strong family’ country such as Japan. This paper investigates the effects of intergenerational family ties on the risk of divorce, using retrospective life history data from a nationally representative survey in Japan. In the past decade, much has been written and discussed about the associations between strong family ties and low fertility, however, little attention has been paid to the relationships between strong family ties and divorce. The results of discrete-time logistic regression models suggest that patrilocal co-residence and residential proximity as well as the presence of young children substantially reduce the risk of divorce. The fact that intergenerational co-residence can stabilize marriage denotes that weakening intergenerational ties or ‘weak family’ may entail a higher risk of marital dissolution, given the long-term decline in macro-economic performance. The results would provide valuable insights into the links between strong family and demographic behavior.