The responses of women and men in two Russian surveys of divorced persons taken in 1993 and 1998 respectively are compared here. The sample does not include men and women who can be matched individually, but independent sets of respondents drawn from the same sampling frame so as to make a statistical comparison possible.
The consistency of men’s and women’s responses is generally good, especially for factual questions, whether they relate to the period before or after the marriage breakdown. Discrepancies regarding the number of children of the dissolved marriage indicate, surprisingly, that men’s responses were more reliable than women’s.
There is systematic disagreement for all questions on the respective share of each spouse (and their parents). It is always inflated when reported by the respondent, in comparison with the share reported by the former husband or wife. This may well reflect the aftermath of conflict.