A Cautionary Note on the Analysis of Life-Cycle Events: Comments on Smith and Meitz

Citation

Morgan, S. Philip & Liao, Tim Futing (1985). A Cautionary Note on the Analysis of Life-Cycle Events: Comments on Smith and Meitz. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47(1), 233-236.

Abstract

The methodology of A. Wade Smith & June E. G. Meitz in "Cohorts, Education, & the Decline in Undisrupted Marriages" (see SA 31:3/83N5131) is criticized for ignoring the duration of risk, truncated distributions, & competing risks, among other problems, & is argued to illustrate the pitfalls of a cohort perspective in the analysis of life-cycle events. Although some of these errors could be corrected with the General Social Survey (GSS) data used for that research, more appropriate data containing useful marital histories are available (eg, the 1980 June Current Population Survey). In Family Studies: Cautious Progress vs. Quibbling Parochialism, A. Wade Smith & June E. G. Meitz, (National Opinion Research Center, 6030 S. Ellis Ave, Chicago, Ill 60637) defend the use of the GSS as offering a broad range of social indicators for the decline in undisrupted marriages, emphasize that the models & variables are not their own, but defined by the theoretical propositions underlying the GSS, & claim that confining research only to certain sets of data is parochial.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/352086

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

1985

Journal Title

Journal of Marriage and the Family

Author(s)

Morgan, S. Philip
Liao, Tim Futing