Divorce in Turkish and Moroccan Communities in Belgium
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Divorce in Turkish and Moroccan Communities in Belgium Emilien Dupont1 · Amelie Van Pottelberge1 · Bart Van de Putte1 · John Lievens1 · Frank Caestecker2 Received: 11 August 2017 / Accepted: 12 November 2019 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract This paper focuses on divorce amongst Turkish and Moroccan Belgians, with a specific focus on the effect of partner-choice patterns. Divorce patterns of marriages established between 01 January 2001 and either 31 December 2003 (descriptive part), or 31 December 2005 (event-history analyses) are analysed and compared to marriages established between 01 January 1988 and 31 December 1990. We distinguish three marriage types: transnational marriages (i.e. marrying a partner from Morocco or Turkey), local intra-ethnic marriages (marrying another Moroccan of Turkish Belgian) and mixed marriages (i.e. marrying someone with a Belgian or other Western–European citizenship). To research divorce rates, we analysed population data from the Belgian national register, using piecewise constant log-rate event-history analyses with effect coding on all marriages taking place between 01 January 2001 and 31 December 2005 (N Turkish = 9631, N Moroccan = 17,786). First, the results reveal that in the past 15 years, divorce rates have doubled within Turkish and Moroccan migrant groups. Second, divorce rates are much higher amongst the Moroccan group. Third, there are clear differences between marriage types. Local intra-ethnic marriages have the lowest divorce levels, mixed marriages the highest, and transnational marriages take up a middle position. Keywords Divorce · Partner choice · Immigrants · Belgium · Event history · Transnational marriages
* Emilien Dupont [email protected] 1
Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Korte Meer 5, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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Department of Economics, Ghent University, Henleykaai 84, Campus Mercator G, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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1 Introduction In the past decades, Belgium has experienced a transition towards a mass divorce society which made divorce an inextricable part of contemporary society (González and Viitanen 2009; Statistics Belgium n.d.). Divorce rates started to rise in the seventies and kept on increasing until now (Eurostat n.d.a). This divorce trend is part of the second demographic transition that started in the late sixties in many countries in Western and Northern Europe. This transition included interrelated changes, such as declining fertility rates and the weakening of the family as an institution, as evidenced by increased divorce and nonmarital cohabitation rates and declining nuptiality rates (Corijn 2012; Lesthaeghe and Van de Kaa 1986). Moreover, this transition assumes ideational and cultural change (Lesthaeghe and Meekers 1987). Not only do economic factors condition individual life decisions, these decisions are steered by the emergence of selffulfilment, personal freedom of choice, personal development and lifestyle, and emancipation as well (van de Kaa 1996). These different tran
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