The Relative Factors of Prejudice against Divorce among Adults Living in a Big City.

Abstract

　　The purpose of this study is to investigate the prejudice against both divorced person and their children. Subjects were 194 men and 247 women, aged between 30 and 69 randomly sampled out of 1,000 people living in Tokyo. They all have the experience of married life, but some of them are not living with their spouse because of his or her death or because of divorce. They answered questions about their feelings on divorce and the children involved, and also gave their opinions on marriage and marital relationship.

　　The main results were as follows:

　　1) Men, people of the older generation and less educated people have a stronger prejudice against divorce and the children involved than do women and people of the younger generation and more educated people.

　　2) Divorced people, and those who have seriously considered divorce have little prejudice against divorce in this survey. These results suggest that people judge divorce and divorced families by their preconceptions.

　　3) Pass analysis indicated that the rigid conceptions of gender role and the traditional opinion of marriage affected the prejudice against both divorce and divorced family.