Life-course timing and sequencing of marriage and military service and their effects on marital stability

We examine the life-course sequencing hypothesis that marriage before military service has a greater disruptive effect on marital stability than marriage during or after military service. Using event-history data from a 13-year panel study of 2,857 White males from Washington State high schools in 1966, we found that Vietnam combat veterans (n = 610) and Vietnam-era veterans (n = 581) married at the same rate as nonveterans (n = 1,666). Marriages initiated before or during military service in Vietnam did not have a significant negative impact on long-term marital stability. Marrying for the first time after military service, however, increased marital stability.