Divorce Among Physicians: Comparisons With Other Occupational Groups

This study had two goals—to evaluate critically the literature regarding the quality and stability of physicians’ marriages and to present national data regarding the divorce-proneness of physicians in comparison with other occupational groups. The conclusions from the literature review were that (a) there is no sound evidence that physicians have lower marital quality than other groups, and (b) methodological weaknesses in past research leave open the question of whether physicians are more prone or less prone to divorce than other groups. The conclusion from new analyses of 1970 and 1980 US census data was that both male and female physicians have a lower tendency to divorce than other occupational groups, including other groups of professionals.