Marital Histories of Women whose First Husbands were Alcoholic or Antisocial

Summary Detailed marital histories were taken from the mothers of 112 boys attending a child psychiatry clinic. 56 of these women had first been married to alcoholic or antisocial men, while another 56 had never married such men; these groups were compared. The former women were less well educated, had more often worked, tended to have unskilled jobs, and had lower socioeconomic status. They had married at an earlier age, after knowing their future husbands for a shorter time; they less often cited mutual affection as the reason for marrying. Their marriages were more often marred by separations and physical abuse, and more often broke down. The women whose first husbands were alcoholic or antisocial divided into four roughly equal groups: those who stayed married to their original husbands; those who divorced and did not remarry; those who divorced and married other antisocial or alcoholic men; and those who divorced and married men who did not have these problems. Other facets of the marital histories of women in these subgroups seemed to differ.