Climate change and divorce behavior: Implication for family education

Abstract

Extant literature has shown that climate change will affect people's mood and mental health, while the influence of climate change on marriage status is not analyzed. We estimate the effects of different types of climate change on the divorce rate around the world. Our models suggest that the increase in greenhouse gas emission, as well as growth of flood and extreme temperature, bring about the rise of the divorce rate, while drought has little effect on divorce rates. We further find that higher gender inequality leads to larger mental health stress and thus intensifies the influence of climate change on divorce. Our findings shed lights on the climate shock on family relationship, which can offer implication for family education.

Keywords

• Q54
• D13