Divorce in Europe: A Comparative Study between France, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland Using Fertility and Family Surveys in the 1990s

Laurence Charton, Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg

The model of families as forming after a marriage has gradually found itself in competition with many new familial configurations. There are now numerous ways of living as a couple: in or outside wedlock, or even separately. Among the younger generations, there has also been a rise in the number of separations in cohabiting couples. This questioning of traditional unions is also found among married couples, who now frequently divorce. Comparative studies on the factors leading to divorce are rare in Europe and the frequently proposed causal models have only rarely been tested identically in different countries. In this paper, we will try to weigh the role of individual factors, those characterizing the formation of the couple, and those linked to conjugal history in cases of divorce using data collected in the 1990s by FFS studies in France, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as biographical methods.