How Does the Change of Marriage Quality Affect Divorce Decisions

This paper provides the first empirical study on how the perceived changes of marriage quality affect marital stability, using a unique data set obtained in Hong Kong. It is found that while the change of marriage quality due to extramarital affairs clearly increases the probability of divorce, it is not the only determinant of marital instability. In particular, the presence of dependable children in a family and good marital quality before the discovery of extramarital affairs would lower the probability of divorce. Meanwhile, although not consistently statistically significant, the empirical results show that divorce rate decreases with age, religion and educational level