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... These changes resulted in more equality and more autonomy in relationships, postponement of marriage and parenthood, lower levels of fertility and marriage, and higher levels of cohabitation, divorce and non-marital fertility. As cohabitation became more prevalent, several Western European countries started to provide legal alternatives to marriage to avoid inequality in rights and benefits between the married and the cohabitants (Kiernan, 2004a). In Belgium, from 2000 onwards, two cohabiting individuals could legally register their cohabitation, regardless of their gender or the nature of their relationship (Senaeve, 2015). ...
... Third, the presence of a different dynamic, found among several majority populations, may also explain why first-generation minority members have a higher likelihood to deviate from traditional family norms. Several Anglo-Saxon studies among majority populations have shown that individuals prefer cohabitation in a high uncertainty context (Kiernan, 2004a;Seltzer, 2004;Stanley, Rhoades, & Markman, 2006;Stanley, Whitton, & Markman, 2004). Although marriage remains highly valued, economic uncertainty and insecurity about marriage because of high divorce rates can be an obstacle to marriage for some (Seltzer, 2004). ...
... First, the presence of an uncertainty dynamic, found among several majority populations, may explain why first-generation minority members have a higher likelihood to deviate from traditional family norms. Several Anglo-Saxon studies have shown that individuals prefer cohabitation in a high uncertainty context (Kiernan, 2004a;Seltzer, 2004;Stanley et al., 2006;Stanley et al., 2004). Although marriage remains highly valued, high levels of uncertainty can be an obstacle to marriage for some. ...
... Family demography has always intersected with fertility measurements since family size distributions are largely dictated by age structure, fertility, and parity distributions in the population. However, during the second demographic transition, the diversity of family styles has been increasing (Kiernan, 2001 andKiernan 2004) leading to a much more nuanced model of family demography where only one (or none) of the biological parents is part of the household unit. This is contrary to most earlier perspectives. ...
... Early work on the relationship between age at first marriage, marital fertility, and completed family size was investigated by works such as Coale and Trussell (1974), Bumpass and Mburugu (1977), and Bumpass et al. (1978). The development of the theory of the second demographic transition (Lesthaeghe and Van de Kaa 1986;Van de Kaa 1987) characterized by a decline in both fertility and traditional marriage forced the analysis of the family and fertility to change focus to declining family sizes, declining marital fertility, and even the decline in the popularity of marriage (Kiernan 2001 andKiernan 2004). ...
... In Eq. 8, given marital fertility on the right-hand side of the equation, the value on the left-hand side can be any combination of values that trades off general fertility and the proportion of births in wedlock. Some countries such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have kept their proportion of births in wedlock very high-to the detriment of fertility-while others such as in Scandinavia and in the USA have maintained relatively higher levels of fertility while dealing with a large percentage or even a majority of births out of wedlock though this often still accommodates family formation through cohabitation (Kiernan, 2001 andKiernan 2004). ...
In a 1974 paper, Coale and Trussell described an empirical relationship between the age-specific fertility rate, the marital fertility rate, and the proportion of women with first marriages. However, their key assumption was no nonmarital fertility. This obscures the relationship between nonmarital fertility and overall fertility that distinguishes many modern Western societies from those of East Asia. Here, their equation is extended to incorporate nonmarital fertility and dual equations are derived relating age-specific fertility, marital or nonmarital fertility, proportion of women with first marriages, and the proportion of births within or outside of marriage. These equations are validated with multi-year data from countries in Europe, the USA (both African-Americans and White Americans) and Japan. They also help to illustrate the dilemma facing modern societies: between a relatively high marriage age, low nonmarital birth ratios, and high fertility, they can only accommodate two in combination.
... Family demography has always intersected with fertility measurements since family size distributions are largely dictated by age structure, fertility, and parity distributions in the population. However, during the second demographic transition, the diversity of family styles has been increasing (Kiernan, 2001 andKiernan 2004) leading to a much more nuanced model of family demography where only one (or none) of the biological parents is part of the household unit. This is contrary to most earlier perspectives. ...
... Early work on the relationship between age at first marriage, marital fertility, and completed family size was investigated by works such as Coale and Trussell (1974), Bumpass and Mburugu (1977), and Bumpass et al. (1978). The development of the theory of the second demographic transition (Lesthaeghe and Van de Kaa 1986;Van de Kaa 1987) characterized by a decline in both fertility and traditional marriage forced the analysis of the family and fertility to change focus to declining family sizes, declining marital fertility, and even the decline in the popularity of marriage (Kiernan 2001 andKiernan 2004). ...
... In Eq. 8, given marital fertility on the right-hand side of the equation, the value on the left-hand side can be any combination of values that trades off general fertility and the proportion of births in wedlock. Some countries such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have kept their proportion of births in wedlock very high-to the detriment of fertility-while others such as in Scandinavia and in the USA have maintained relatively higher levels of fertility while dealing with a large percentage or even a majority of births out of wedlock though this often still accommodates family formation through cohabitation (Kiernan, 2001 andKiernan 2004). ...
... Estos períodos se caracterizan por la presencia de elevados niveles de estrés, ansiedad y tensión. Las características de la sociedad actual han vuelto a las relaciones sentimentales más frágiles que en el pasado, soliendo desestabilizar las crisis de pareja en mayor medida a este tipo de interacciones (Kiernan, 2004). Cuando las demandas superan la capacidad operativa de la pareja se puede desen-cadenar una crisis en la relación. ...
... Una relación de pareja atraviesa a lo largo de su ciclo vital una serie de dificultades, tales como puede ser la infidelidad, lo que puede perturbar este sistema que establecieron dos personas, poniendo incluso en entredicho la continuidad de este vínculo relacional y por ende la repulsa de los proyectos comunes que orientan la visión y las metas de ambos (Kiernan, 2004). En este trabajo se pudo evidenciar que la presencia, en estudiantes universitarios, de valores personales asociados a la influencia social puede propiciar conductas infieles, mientras que los valores relacionados con conductas benéficas y prosociales se convierten en factores protectores que impedirían la presencia de comportamientos relacionados con la infidelidad. ...
En la presente investigación se analizó la relación existente entre los valores interpersonales y la conducta infiel en estudiantes de educación superior en de Cartagena de Indias (Colombia). Se realizó un estudio descriptivo correlacional de corte transversal entre los valores interpersonales y la conducta infiel de una muestra de 928 personas, haciendo también análisis de regresión lineal múltiple entre la infidelidad sexual y el deseo de infidelidad sexual y variables sociodemográficas. Los resultados indicaron que los valores individualistas como el reconocimiento y el liderazgo pueden suscitar infidelidad, mientras que los orientados al bien común pueden prevenirla; siendo el sexo la variable sociodemográfica explicativa más relevante en el momento de explicar la conducta y los pensamientos asociados a la infidelidad.
... The Nordic countries, Sweden at the forefront, were the forerunners in this transition (Popenoe 1987;Kiernan 2001). Currently, in the early 21 st century, these nations still stand out from other industrialized countries with their high proportions of cohabiting couples, high mean age at marriage and high divorce rates (Kiernan 2004;Pitkänen & Jalovaara 2007;OECD 2014). ...
... The Nordic countries have been forerunners in this development, and currently there is little social distinction between cohabitation and marriage in these countries, and children are born and raised in both union types (Heuveline and Timberlake, 2004;Kiernan, 2001). Nevertheless, even in countries in which cohabitation is widespread and socially approved, people still value marriage (Kiernan, 2004), and many choose to marry eventually. This raises the question of which factors contribute to the cohabiting couple's decision of progressing to marriage, and thus how cohabitation and marriage differ from each other as union types. ...
The tendency towards socio-economic homogamy – partner similarity in terms of socio-economic status – is of great interest to social scientists, for two reasons. First, socio-economic homogamy is an indicator of social closure between status groups in a society. Second, given that homogamy leads to the accumulation of advantageous and disadvantageous socio-economic conditions within couples, it also intensifies social and economic inequalities between families. The objective of this thesis is to enhance knowledge of socio-economic homogamy and its consequences for union stability in Finland. The first aim was to analyse the strength and patterns of socio-economic homogamy in partner choice. The second aim was to determine whether and, if so, how homogamy is associated with the likelihood of ending non-marital cohabitation – through separation on the one hand, or marriage on the other. In addition, two dimensions of socio-economic status, individual educational attainment and social class of the family of origin, were analysed to find out whether matching on individually achieved status or on the status of the parental family had a bigger effect on union dynamics.The analyses were based on sets of register data compiled at Statistics Finland. Log-linear models were applied to study homogamy tendencies and their changes in marriages and cohabitations of women born in 1957–1979 at the age of 30. The effects of homogamy and heterogamy on the likelihood of separation and marriage were analysed with Cox proportional hazards model in cohabitations formed in the period 1995–2002 by women born in 1960–1977. An elaborate approach was adopted: marriage and separation rates were examined in each possible combination of partner status.The results imply that people tend to choose partners who are similar to them in terms of educational attainment and class background. However, homogamy was stronger with regard to education than to social-class origins. This is line with the view that boundaries based on achieved status are more difficult to cross in modern, individualized societies than boundaries based on social origins. The most highly educated – those with a higher university degree – were particularly strongly inclined towards homogamy. The general strength of homogamy did not change much across the birth cohorts from the late 1950s to the 1970s, but the trends differed depending on the level of education: homogamy strengthened among those with a low level of education, and weakened among the highly educated. The results also indicate that in the absence of homogamy, women increasingly tend to have partners whose level of education is lower than theirs.Homogamy in class background had a relatively weak influence on the stability of cohabiting unions. Homogamy increased the marriage rate among the children of farmers, whereas heterogamy was associated with an increased separation risk when one partner came from a farmer family and the other from an upper-white-collar family. Educational differences played a somewhat more significant role in these transitions. Homogamy was associated with a reduced risk of separation among the most highly educated cohabitors in particular. The effects of educational homogamy on the marriage rate were less consistent: homogamy increased the marriage rate among cohabitors with a basic-level education, but reduced it among the most highly educated.The findings reveal that status barriers and cultural differences are of significance in partner choice and the stability of cohabiting unions in Finland, and that group boundaries based on achieved status are stronger than those based on ascribed status in terms of union dynamics.
... Previous demographic research about the meaning of marriage has construed meaning as a static concept for a long time. Under this view, if people change their way of living, marriage becomes meaningless (Heuveline & Timberlake, 2004;Kiernan, 2001Kiernan, , 2004. However, under a constructivist approach, the meaning of marriage has changed throughout history and can also differ between couples, partly depending on when they choose to marry. ...
... To gain respect from society, the couple had to marry before having kids. Currently, however, society accepts births before couples marry and thus, according to some, it is said to have lost its meaning (Heuveline & Timberlake, 2004;Kiernan, 2001Kiernan, , 2004. The narratives of Leif and Lisa show that the meaning of marriage might not be lost but might have changed. ...
Previous research reveals that the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage can have an impact on the meaning of first-time marriage. This article aims to obtain a deeper understanding of meaning-making of first-time marriage in relation to childbearing. Narrative interviews with 16 brides and grooms in 8 couples in Sweden were conducted. The material was analyzed in relation to the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage. The study reveals that the construction of meaning of marriage does not only relate to the temporal context. Social factors such as social class or family formation might also be relevant for how meaning is constructed. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of meaning-making as a relational process constructed within particular contexts.
... The number of people opting for marriage has decreased considerably over the past 60 years (Federal Statistical Office Germany, 2013a). Instead, alternative types of relationships have developed alongside marriage, becoming increasingly popular within German society as well as in the societies of other industrialized nations such as the USA (Dolgin, 2011;Kiernan, 2004;Kreider, 2010;Niephaus, 2012). Due to profound demographic, social, and societal changes such as higher incomes and prosperity as well as an increased value being placed on education, marriage perhaps no longer holds the importance it once did (Burkart, 2010;Carmichael & Whittaker, 2007;Kiernan, 2004;Lois, 2009;Peuckert, 2012). ...
... Instead, alternative types of relationships have developed alongside marriage, becoming increasingly popular within German society as well as in the societies of other industrialized nations such as the USA (Dolgin, 2011;Kiernan, 2004;Kreider, 2010;Niephaus, 2012). Due to profound demographic, social, and societal changes such as higher incomes and prosperity as well as an increased value being placed on education, marriage perhaps no longer holds the importance it once did (Burkart, 2010;Carmichael & Whittaker, 2007;Kiernan, 2004;Lois, 2009;Peuckert, 2012). These changes often referred to the so-called theory of the Second Demographic Transition, stating that changes in attitudes on family issues are linked to a global shift in values (Lesthaeghe, 2014;van de Kaa, 2001). ...
Whereas the number of marriages has decreased, alternatives such as cohabitation have increased in German society. The main goal of the present representative study was to specify the influence of recalled parental rearing behavior on relationship status by specifying and controlling for socio-demographic variables. A sample of 2146 participants aged 18 to 60 (M = 42.9, SD = 10.2) was investigated employing the German version of the Recalled Parental Rearing Behavior Questionnaire. In comparison to cohabitant interviewees, married interviewees reported having experienced significantly less emotional warmth. This effect was independent of the gender of the parent or the interviewee or of education but not of the age. Furthermore, a mother recalled as having been emotionally warmer seemed to be connected to cohabitation. Since emotional warmth promotes social competence and security as well as attachment security, fewer difficulties may appear in a relationship. Thus, less need for emotional warmth might be an explanation for cohabitation.
... Within this focus on intimate sacrifices and relational satisfaction, we examine individuals in various stages of cohabiting relationships, which is a quickly growing, diverse segment of the U.S. population (Kiernan, 2004;Sassler, 2010). Some research suggests that cohabitors report more relational problems or conflict than married or dating couples (Kline et al., 2004;Stanley, Rhoades, & Markman, 2006) and other research does not (Willoughby, Carroll, & Busby, 2012). ...
... To be eligible to participate, individuals had to be 18 years of age or older, in a cohabiting romantic relationship for at least six weeks, unmarried, both members of the couple had to be willing to complete the survey, and each person had their own email address to register for the survey. Our goal was to access a sample of cohabitors and "stay over" couples reflecting the heterogeneity and diversity of individuals in different cohabiting relationships who experience opportunities for intimacy behavior sacrifices (e.g., Jamison & Ganong, 2011;Kiernan, 2004;Sassler, 2004). To achieve this, we sampled only participants who self-identified as living with their partner 1 to 7 days of the week. ...
Guided by interdependence theory, the authors examined how relationship satisfaction is explained by intimate behavior sacrifices in a sample of cohabitors (N = 200). Specifically, it was predicted that characteristics of intimate behavior sacrifices, such as ease and partner appreciation should alter the association of sacrifice frequency and relationship satisfaction. The pattern that emerged demonstrates lower satisfaction for cohabitors when they frequently made intimate sacrifices and their partners were less appreciative of the sacrifices. When making frequent, but less appreciated, intimacy sacrifices for their partner, cohabitors may struggle with intimacy behaviors that are partner oriented.
... Also, a significant proportion of cohabitation relationships do not lead to marriage. The best example is Sweden, which has a substantial proportion of the population in Europe living in cohabitation (Kiernan, 2004). All demographic changes are accompanied by cultural, social, and technological changes, and modernization, and form the basis of the Second Demographic Transition (Lesthaeghe and van de Kaa, 1986;van de Kaa, 1987;Lesthaeghe, 2010Lesthaeghe, , 2014. ...
Marriage and cohabitation are the two most common forms of partnership in Europe. We examined the extent to which marriage and cohabitation are studied from a demographic perspective and to identify differences across European countries. The methodology was established on a keyword search and four phases of preference indicator, based on which we selected 85 articles and incorporate them into the literature review. As determined by the literature review, we identified seven areas: Cohabitation, Marriage, Union Formation, Migrant Partnership Behavior, Fertility, Divorce, and Second Demographic Transition. The influence of society plays a significant role in forming the attitudes and aspirations of individuals in each area of life, and for some, even in the most important, which is starting a family and getting married or not, and on the other hand, in individual aspirations and modern lifestyles.
... Cohabitation versus marriage was a 'hot topic' at the end of the last century and in the first decade of this century, both in sociology (Giddens 1992;Beck and Beck-Gersheim 1995) and in research on family formation as a basis for child development (Brown 2004(Brown , 2010Cavanaugh and Huston 2006;Manning and Brown 2006). British demographer Kathleen Kiernan (2004) noted at the time that cohabitation was being accepted in stages in European nations, and that the Nordic countries in particular were further along these stages than the others. According to Kiernan, in the first stage, cohabitation is a fringe or avantgarde phenomenon. ...
Cohabitation is more common than marriage when couples are expecting their first child in Finland. However, little is known about possible differences in wellbeing between the two groups. In this study, we examined differences in parental wellbeing, relationship satisfaction, infant health outcomes, and use of social support among cohabiting and married first-time parents. Survey data was collected from 903 parents during pregnancy and at one month postpartum. Cohabiting parents had more depressive symptoms than married parents. They were also less satisfied with their relationships and expressed less satisfaction with the quality of support they got from their partner. Cohabiting fathers did not use the cost-free support from maternity clinics as often as married fathers. Our results show differences in well-being between married and cohabiting first-time parents and that the support from maternity clinics should better acknowledge diversity and address the different needs of different types of families.
... In Europe, in contrast, entry into a first coresidential partnership has been delayed, especially in Southern Europe where the postponement of marriage was not even linked to an increase in premarital cohabitation, unlike in Northern and Western Europe (see Perelli-Harris and Lyons-Amos 2015; Sobotka and Toulemon 2008). Cohabitation has been embraced by the entire social spectrum across Europe, as seen in the positive association between women's higher education and levels of cohabitation (at least for older cohorts), which also applies to marriage delay, although country context including gender relations and policy settings matters most for partnership patterns (see Kalmijn 2007;Kiernan 2004). Irrespective of the prevalence of consensual unions, out-of-wedlock childbearing has continuously increased, linked strongly to cohabiting couples, albeit with a considerable share of births to lone mothers in the USA and UK as well as Central-Eastern Europe Thomson 2014). ...
The chapter addresses the complex interplay between the new roles of women and men and the diversity of family life courses (focusing on heterosexual individuals) in advanced societies, most specifically Europe and the US, from the 1960s, onwards. The multiple equilibria framework and the gender revolution theory serve as the point of departure. Considering labor market changes as the main drivers of family- and gender role changes, the chapter focuses on the development from the male breadwinner-female homemaker model to families with women as secondary earners, to dual-career families and more recently to the female primary earner or breadwinner-mother model, along with the slow and delayed transition of the male gender role from primary family provider to involved, caring men and the new father. The review demonstrates gender role changes being closely intertwined with the de-standardization of family biographies leading to a growing diversity of relationships over the life course as well as increasingly complex family compositions and household structures. Every stage of the family life course relates to a range of options, starting with partnership formation (cohabitation, marriage, LAT) if at all, through becoming a parent (when, how many times, in which family type, biological or stepparent) or not, to partnership dissolution (divorce / separation) and family reconstitution, shaping and shaped by altering gender roles. Diverse policy and cultural contexts (norms, values, attitudes, perceptions – and multi-ethnic families) facilitate or hinder family and gender-role transitions, impinging societal development.
... Being emphasized by individual characteristics and the local context (Bumpass 1969;Bytheway 1981;Oppenheimer 1988;Bergstrom and Schoeni 1996), regional differences in the mean age at marriage have persisted over time and are hardly explained with reference to institutions, religious or cultural values only (e.g. Hogan 1978;Kiernan 2004;Jones and Gubhaju 2009;Billari 2015;Caltabiano et al. 2019). A gender-based analysis revealed traditional divergences in marital age between rural and urban areas (Heaton et al. 1989;Fan and Huang 1998;Lichter et al. 1991;Nedoluzhko and Agadjanian 2010); marital age showed sign of moderate convergence in more recent times (Schmied 2000;Nishioka 2003;Choi and Tienda 2017). ...
While marital age is the highest worldwide, spatial disparities still exist among European regions. Although Mediterranean societies were traditionally characterized by high propensity to marriage, mean age at marriage in recent times has converged to particularly high levels typical of Western and Northern Europe. Since a spatially explicit analysis of nuptiality patterns is relatively scarce for Southern European countries, the present study investigates marriage timing in 51 Greek prefectures, assuming changes in the local context as a factor leading to marriage postponement. A positive trend in the age at marriage was observed in Greek prefectures between 1980 and 2017. While differences in the mean age at marriage diverged substantially between rural areas and urban contexts in the early 1980s, social factors leading to differentiated patterns of marriage postponement caused a greater spatial heterogeneity in marriage timing in more recent times. Results of this study outline the importance of local contexts shaping social attitudes and behaviors toward marriage. Increasingly complex demographic processes were observed along the urban–rural gradient, whose investigation requires more integrated approaches focusing on population patterns at both micro- and macro-scale.
... However, until conceptual developments are available allowing for a relatively objective identification of commitment in relationships, it does not seem straightforward to distinguish committed LAT-relationships from other non-residential relationships. One might also argue that co-resident relationships comprise a large variety of relationship forms that range from marriage-like unions to relationships that resemble 'dating' without any clear commitment (Heuveline and Timberlake 2004;Hiekel et al. 2014;Kiernan 2004). One could therefore not consider all cohabiting unions as equally relevant for a measure of union stability. ...
This chapter provides an overview of the conceptual and empirical challenges that arise once measuring union stability. Conceptually, the chapter discusses different ways of defining unions and what each way implies in terms of measurement. For the purposes of this chapter, union stability is defined as the stability of both marriages and co-residential unions. Available data sources are discussed as well as their possible biases. Empirically, the chapter compares two data sources from Britain to show that there are serious challenges to be overcome when using survey data to estimate trends in union stability. Survey data possibly overestimates union stability due to selective non-response and prospective surveys do not report many unions that existed according to retrospective data. Good news comes from a comparison of two retrospective sources which provide relatively consistent estimates of trends in union stability. If retrospective information is indeed to be trusted, union stability has been decreasing across cohorts (1974–1999), but this development appears to have stalled for the most recent cohort formed in 2000–2004. A lack of recent data, however, prevents us from knowing whether this trend has continued, underlining the need to invest in the repeated collection of retrospective union histories.
... This study reexamines changes in cohabitation outcomes over the past 30 years, exploring the notion of increasing institutionalization of cohabiting unions as an acceptable family arrangement, as cohabitation has become ubiquitous. According to the institutionalization perspective (Cherlin 2004;Heuveline and Timberlake 2004;Kiernan 2004), lengthening of cohabiting relationships suggests that the meaning of cohabitation is changing with the increasing prevalence of cohabiting unions. ...
The rapid growth in cohabitation over the past quarter-century necessitates studies of changes in the stability and outcomes of cohabitation. We utilized data from the 1988 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) and the most recent NSFG data from 2011–2013 to examine the outcomes of two comparable cohorts of first premarital cohabiting women (1983–1988 and 2006–2013). Our results showed that cohabitations formed between 2006 and 2013 lasted longer—18 months, on average—than those formed in the mid-1980s, which lasted for an average of 12 months. We found that the lengthening of cohabitation over time cuts across sociodemographic characteristics—race/ethnicity, education, and motherhood status—and resulted mostly from the declining rate of transitioning to marriage. We found some support for the diverging destinies perspective in that disparities in the outcomes of cohabitation by education and by cohabiting birth have widened over time. Our analyses showed that changes in the outcomes of first premarital cohabiting unions over the past three decades were not due to compositional shifts in cohabitors. These results demonstrate the evolving dynamics of cohabitation over a 30-year window.
... Marriage as an institution has been transformed by rising rates of pre-marital cohabitation. At the same time, the conceptual boundaries between cohabitation and marriage have become increasingly ambiguous (Kiernan 2004;Brown and Manning 2009), especially as a context for childbearing and childrearing. Indeed, more than 1-in-4 first births in the United States today are to cohabiting women (Copen et al. 2013) and growing shares of all first unions are now seemingly motivated or prompted by a non-marital conception, often within cohabiting unions (Gibson-Davis and Rackin 2014; Hayford et al. 2014). ...
... These living apart together (LAT) relationships have received considerable attention in recent sociological and demographic research. In the (mainly European) literature, the term LAT is used to describe unmarried partnerships in which the partners have an intimate relationship but do not live together (Duncan and Phillips 2010;Kiernan 2004;Heuveline and Timberlake 2004;Mortelmans et al. 2015). Although it has been discussed in the literature whether LAT is an alternative to marriage and cohabitation, the majority of LAT relationships can be seen as a stage on the way to making a stronger commitment and establishing a more institutionalized relationship (Liefbroer et al. 2015). ...
Most romantic relationships start with a living apart together (LAT) phase during which the partners live in two separate households. Over time, a couple might decide to move in together, to separate, or to remain together while maintaining their nonresidential status. This study investigates the competing risks that partners in a LAT relationship will experience the transition to coresidence or to separation. We consider the amount of time LAT partners have to travel to see each other to be a key determinant of relationship development. For our statistical analyses, we use seven waves of the German Family Panel Pairfam (2008/2009–2014/2015) and analyze couples in the age group 20–40 years. We distinguish between short-distance relationships (the partners have to travel less than one hour) and long-distance relationships (the partners have to travel one hour or more). Estimating a competing risks model, we find that couples in long-distance relationships are more likely to separate than those living in close proximity. By contrast, the probability of experiencing a transition to coresidence is lower for LAT couples in long-distance than for those in short-distance relationships. Interaction analyses reveal that distance seems to be irrelevant for the relationship development of couples with two nonemployed (unemployed, in education or other inactive) partners.
... In the case of Chilean men and women, having answered agree to the question "Marriage is an outdated institution" had a strong effect in increasing the odds of being in a cohabiting union, relative to marriage. And this is especially interesting in the case of men, in which besides the age group from 40-50 (that showed significant less odds of being cohabiting than the reference group [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] this was the only significant variable. ...
The relationship between gender ideology and partnership formation has been explored for a wide number of countries, mostly in the Western developed world. What has been found, is that more egalitarian individuals (both women and men) tend to cohabit more than traditional ones (Kaufman, 2000; Davis, 2007), and that for instance, the division of housework is more equal in cohabiters than on their married counterparts (Davis, 2007). This findings show, that gender ideology and cohabitation are related variables, and that it is to be expected that more traditional individuals will prefer more traditional unions (marriage) than cohabiting ones (considering cohabitation as a more contemporary arrangement of partnership formation).
Cohabitation has been for a long time a distinctive characteristic of Latin Americans (LA) partnership formation patterns. The dual nuptiality system of marriages “with and without papers” (Castro Martín, 2011) has a long historical background, and cohabiters in LA appear to have different profiles than their counterparts in the western developed nations.
What has been found in Latin America is that consensual unions are more common among young, less educated and lower class individuals, in opposition to what has been observed in some European countries in which at least at the beginning, it was a phenomena more related to urban, highly educated women, with less traditional values, in the context of the so- called “second-demographic transition” (Van Der Kaa, 2002).
Some authors have argued that because of the high levels of cohabitation within countries with the lowest levels of gender development indicators in Latin America and of the cultural characteristics of the region, for these societies, cohabitation may not be related with gender equality attitudes as it has been found for other countries, but actually with a situation of social exclusion and objective disadvantages for women (Rodriguez, 2005). In fact, there are studies that have found more incidence of domestic violence among cohabiting couples than on their married counterparts (Castro Martín, et.al 2008).
As it has been stated, previous studies on cohabitation and gender ideology have identified that egalitarian individuals are more likely to cohabit, but some research on the Latin American context shows this might
not be the case. It is exactly within the tension that this research paper takes its place by intending to answer the question: Are gender ideology and cohabitation related variables in the Latin American context?
Using individual level, cross-sectional data from the World Values Survey (2005-2006) for Chile, Colombia and Peru, and controlling for sociodemographic variables, what has been found in this analysis is that gender ideology doesn’t appear to be significantly related to cohabitation in the cases of these three countries. Instead, age and educational level are significant variables when comparing those who cohabit to those who declared to be married.
... Marriage as an institution has been transformed by rising rates of pre-marital cohabitation. At the same time, the conceptual boundaries between cohabitation and marriage have become increasingly ambiguous (Kiernan 2004;Brown and Manning 2009), especially as a context for childbearing and childrearing. Indeed, more than 1-in-4 first births in the United States today are to cohabiting women (Copen et al. 2013) and growing shares of all first unions are now seemingly motivated or prompted by a non-marital conception, often within cohabiting unions (Gibson-Davis and Rackin 2014; Hayford et al. 2014). ...
This study analyzes the stability of cohabiting and marital unions following a first birth. But unlike previous research, it compares the subsequent trajectories of unions that began with a pregnancy to those in which conceptions came after coresidence. The U.S. data from the 2006–2010 and 2011–2013 cross-sectional files of the National Survey of Family Growth indicate that roughly 1-in-5 first births were associated with rapid transitions from conception into either cohabitation or marriage. Moving in together following a pregnancy—especially an unintended one—is unlikely to lead to marital success or union stability. Compared with marital unions, dissolution rates following birth were particularly high for couples who entered a cohabiting union following conception. Only a small minority of these couples married (i.e., less than one-third), and these marriages experienced high dissolution rates. The results also suggest that the most committed cohabiting couples got married after finding themselves pregnant, leaving behind the most dissolution-prone cohabiting couples. The American family system is being transformed by newly emerging patterns of fertility among cohabiting couples.
... In the past decade, cohabitation has become more and more common in German society, as well as in other industrialized western countries. In 2004, 5.12 million cohabiting couples were reported, which is a 170% increase compared to 1980 [1,2]. This trend was also observed in the USA, where the number of cohabiting couples rose to 7.5 million in 2010 [3]. ...
Cohabitation is becoming more prevalent in western society so that up to 7.5 million cohabiting couples were reported in the USA for the year 2010. The present study investigated whether the cohabitants' attachment style might be one of the reasons for cohabitation gaining such popularity. Attachment styles as well as socio-demographic variables were compared in regard to the partnership status. A sample of 1,002 participants aged 18 to 60 were used as a representative sample (M = 43.5, SD = 10.9), of which 54% were female and 82% were married. The cohabitants were younger, more highly educated, and less frequently affiliated with a church. The cohabitants were more anxious-attached, especially those of a younger age. A one-point increase in value on the AAS anxiety scale almost doubled the possibility of cohabitation. Most of the variance can be explained by socio-demographic variables. However, based on these representative data, and after controlling for socio-demographic variables, attachment anxiety is still connected to cohabitation. The diverse results in the literature may be explained by differences in the socio-demographic characteristics of the sample.
... The culture and economy of a society may play a significant role in the importance of interpersonal commitment and institutionalization of the union for the disagreements of cohabiting and married couples. Most research comparing conflicts in cohabiting and married couples has been conducted in the US, but cohabitation is a more recent relationship form there than in Europe (Kiernan 2004;Seltzer 2004a). The higher levels of conflict observed among cohabitors in the US may not be true of all European countries. ...
Background: Cross-national research suggests that married people have higher levels of well-being than cohabiting people. However, relationship quality has both positive and negative dimensions. Researchers have paid little attention to disagreements within cohabiting and married couples. Objective: This study aims to improve our understanding of the meaning of cohabitation by examining disagreements within marital and cohabiting relationships. We examine variations in couples' disagreements about housework, paid work and money by country and gender. Methods: The data come from the 2004 European Social Survey. We selected respondents living in a heterosexual couple relationship and aged between 18 and 45. In total, the study makes use of data from 22 European countries and 9,657 people. Given that our dependent variable was dichotomous, we estimated multilevel logit models, with (1) disagree and (0) never disagree. Results: We find that cohabitors had more disagreements about housework, the same disagreements about money, but fewer disagreements about paid work than did married people. These findings could not be explained by socio-economic or demographic measures, nor did we find gender or cross-country differences in the association between union status and conflict. Conclusions: Cohabiting couples have more disagreements about housework but fewer disagreements about paid work than married people. There are no gender or cross-country differences in these associations. The results provide further evidence that the meaning of cohabitation differs from that of marriage, and that this difference remains consistent across nations.
This introduction piece sets the tone of the volume on intimate diversity in Belgium in three ways. Firstly, it takes stock of scholarly works on the diversity of conjugal mixedness in the context of migration, which highlights general tendencies and remaining gaps to be addressed in future studies. By doing so, it brings to the fore the originality of the volume. Secondly, adopting a phenomenological approach, it presents the volume's analytical lens of “situated mixedness” – a framework that locates both intimate diversity, in general, and the lived experiences of the partners, in particular, within wider social processes. And thirdly, it presents the overall characteristics of the volume by positioning it in spatio-temporal contexts of conjugal mixedness situations in Belgium and by underscoring its methodological background and empirical contents.
Drawing from empirically grounded studies, the volume Situated Mixedness sheds light on the state of migration-related "intimate diversity", that is, the simultaneous formation and existence of various configurations of conjugal mixedness. It examines this phenomenon in Belgium, a country in the European Union with a long history of immigration and where an important percentage of registered marriages are international. Through the optic of "situated mixedness", the volume pays attention to the (dis-)connections between intimate diversity and its surrounding environment. Bringing together mutually reinforcing or often contradicting emic and etic perspectives, it illuminates how specific context/s (socio-legal, cultural, temporal, etc.) not only can influence, stem from, or trigger a social phenomenon but also remain standstill without a particular impact on individual's lived experiences. It brings out in subtle ways the agency and subjectivities of individuals, nuancing thereby common-held views on socially Othered couples. Focusing on the intimate sphere of individuals' life at the crossroads of anthropology and sociology, the volume contributes fresh insights not only to the study of migration and intermarriage but also to the literature on super-and hyper-diversity. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and social actors working on family-related migration, state policies, and social cohesion.
The past few decades have brought dramatic changes in the residential arrangements of romantically involved unmarried adults. Indeed, as sexual activity has become uncoupled from marriage, growing numbers of young couples have begun sharing a home and a bed without the legal sanction of marriage. Cohabitation, as this type of living arrangement is commonly known, has become a normative part of the adult life course.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
In a fast-changing world, what impact does social change have on our everyday relationships? How do modernisation processes influence our broader values, and how might these then affect our desires to marry, have a family and develop our social networks? And how do sudden events in a society - invasions, civil conflict, terrorist attacks, collapse of a political system - influence our relationship decisions and processes. In this book Goodwin critically reviews the literature on modernisation and contemporary relationships, challenging simplistic conclusions about the 'end of intimacy' and the inevitable decline of personal commitment. Reviewing work from across the globe, he also contends that adaptation to rapid change is moderated by individual, social class and cultural variations, with consequently differing impacts on everyday relations. In doing so he brings together contemporary debates in psychology, sociology and the political sciences on coping with social change and its impact on personal relations.
Census data are far superior in population coverage to survey data and, when relevant information is available, provide a tremendous opportunity for detailed demographic research into Jewish populations. This paper presents a comparative assessment of census data on Jewish intermarriage in England and Wales contrasting this with comparative data from Australia. In doing so, it presents a statistically robust contextualisation and description of intermarriage patterns and processes being experienced by these two Jewish populations. Despite the enormity of the geographical distance separating them, multiple parallels are observed. The analysis demonstrates the versatility of census data and its potential for broadening our understanding of subtopics of intermarriage such as the role cohabitation plays in patterns of homogamy and the transmission of Jewish identity to children being raised in intermarried homes. Finally, it demonstrates that despite striking similarities, there is clear evidence that Britain and Australia are set upon divergent paths with Britain moving towards higher prevalence of marital endogamy and Australia moving towards lower prevalence.
This chapter addressed the state of coupled relationships in the low fertility countries that have been affected by changes in the family such as increasing levels of cohabitation and relationship dissolution. Evidence on sexuality in these countries suggests that child-free time due to small numbers of children does not always mean more focus on the quality of the relationship between marital or cohabitating partners. Our research on marital and cohabitating couples in the U.S. shows that at older ages, many couples remain sexually active, and most are quite satisfied with sexual relationships. At the same time, only about a third of the partners among older couples are entirely happy with the amount of support they get from their spouse and feel that their partners are not very critical or demanding. The other third perceive some ambivalent feeling toward their spouse or partners because they receive good amount of support as well as demands. The rest perceive some negative in their relationship, either because they feel that their spouse is not supportive, or they feel that their spouse is critical or demanding or both. These couples do fewer things together, including having less sex. The results suggest different ways to protect marital quality among those with ambivalent and indifferent feeling toward their husbands and wives.
This paper aims to explore how couples reflect gender role-related attitudes in their family formation process and whether these processes could be described through the lens of ambivalence. Using qualitative methods, semistructured interviews with Estonian married and cohabiting couples were conducted (all together 24 interviewees). Analysis revealed themes of ambivalence toward gender roles among married and cohabiting couples. The present study could be classified as exploratory in identifying ambivalence, with open-ended and emergent analysis. It is known that Estonians have adopted Western values and their family behavior resembles that of Nordic countries. However, our interviews showed that on the level of the individual, gender role related attitudes in relationships have remained traditional. The reason for this might lie in the rapid change of values that occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Western lifestyle was seen as an ideal, and copied in behavior before the actual family or gender role values could undergo the transformation needed to support egalitarian family values. Our study reveals that the societal context of a rapid change in values and norms might create confusion and ambivalence in attitudes. Therefore, a high proportion of cohabiting couples might not be the product of egalitarian gender role-related attitudes but a product of ambivalent couple relations where the couple has not discussed thoroughly the vision and expectations they have for each other and their relationship.
This chapter addresses the factors that impact on levels of marriage and divorce both across countries and over time. These include religiosity, individualism, cohabitation, the rise of same-sex marriages, and the changing character of marriage in the last fifty years. The chapter contrasts levels of marriage and divorce across Western countries, and addresses the predictors of divorce. Finally, it considers the possible implications of changes in marriage and divorce, and discusses the role of commitment in fostering stability in relationships.
Using aggregated data from 25 developed countries over a lengthy period of time, this article presents a measure of the marriage boom observed in the twentieth century and an explanation for its causes. One of my main conclusions is that even though it basically developed after the Second World War, its origins are to be found before it. I found that, contrary to the views of some scholars, this boom was not a short-lived phenomenon, but actually lasted for 90 years on average. Using panel data analysis techniques, I am able to show that the rise in women’s education, state spending on social benefits, and larger percentages of people employed in the primary sector tended to discourage marriage. I also found a quadratic relationship between the nuptiality index and the per capita income and mortality rates.
Psychologists have been observing and interpreting economic behaviour for at least fifty years, and the last decade, in particular, has seen an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference resource dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods – including laboratory experiments, field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews – the Handbook covers aspects of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. With contributions from distinguished scholars from a variety of countries and backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics. It will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioural economics.
In many developed societies, there is an increase in the number of couples who are cohabiting in unregistered marriages. This trend is often used as an example to indicate changes in consciousness that are part of the transformation of a modern society. Those who have adopted the Japanese term “jijitsukon (unregistered marriage)” to refer to their cohabitation often regard themselves as “married,” yet the question of “why couples in an unregistered marriage choose that option” has received little attention to date. We conclude that the practice of “unregistered marriages” is neither a simple secession from the idea of a conventional “marriage” nor is it restricted to a “traditional” vocabulary. Instead, it should be viewed in terms of a “reinterpretation” of marriage.
Social change has affected all young people—but not all in the same way. While the transition to adulthood has generally been extended, not all young people are delaying the step into paid employment
, independent living, and
family formation
, especially those from less privileged family background. Existing templates for the transition to adulthood are, however, dominated by the assumption of a standard trajectory generally involving pathways through post-compulsory education, without taking into account the resources available to young people nor the complexities and variations of the demands they have to negotiate in making the transition to independent adulthood. Current transition research examining variability in transitions focuses on a dichotomy of experience, as for example, the polarization into slow versus fast transitions (Jones in The youth divide: Diverging paths to adulthood. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York, 2002) and cumulative disadvantage which leads to increasingly diverging achievements (Kerckhoff in Diverging pathways: Social structure and career deflections. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993; McLanahan in Demography 41(4):607–627, 2004). I argue that focusing on a dichotomy of experience fails to take into account variations in transition experiences, especially regarding intermediate groups who fall between the lines of this dualism. Moving toward a more flexible and dynamic understanding of transition experiences—a diverse pathways view—offers a more comprehensive conceptualization of variations in pathways leading to successful adaptations in the transition to adulthood.
Cohabitation, or living together in an intimate sexual relationship outside of marriage, has become normative across many world regions. This chapter reviews and evaluates knowledge on heterosexual cohabitation, with an emphasis on recent research in the United States. In this chapter, we first review basic trends and patterns regarding cohabitation in the United States, followed by a discussion of cohabitation patterns around the globe. We next identify four major research questions central to understanding recent research on cohabitation and synthesize the findings. Finally, we discuss several implications of the current state of knowledge about cohabitation.
Non-standard Life Courses of People in Transylvania: A Comparison between Romanian and Hungarian Ethnics During the last decades, important changes took place in the sphere of family life in all industrialized countries. From a life course perspective, new stages and new sequences emerged in the people's life paths, and the normative guidance for family related behaviors has now a diminished role. New living arrangements and demographic behaviors have spread, such as consensual unions and childbearing outside marriage. We investigate the degree of diffusion of these non-standard behaviors and the most common patterns of people's life courses, with a focus on Transylvania, comparing Romanian and Hungarian ethnics. We use for our investigation two rich databases, namely Generations and Gender Survey for Romania and Turning Points of the Life Course-Transylvania for the Hungarian ethnics in Transylvania, which contain retrospective information about the life course of several thousand people.
Sweden is known as a social welfare state, whereby the people who reside in Sweden are entitled to certain public benefits at little or no cost to the individual. Over the past century, Sweden has reshaped its culture, growing from one of the poorest nations in Europe to a flourishing country that others emulate, especially with respect to their family policies. Sweden has developed several foundational family policies that have helped to encourage equality, while establishing a sense of individuality. Sweden has created similar rights for cohabiters/married couples, as well as for same-sex/opposite-sex couples. Parents receive a generous parental leave package, flexible employment choices, and there is a low gender wage gap, while children receive high-quality childcare, free health care, free dental care, free mental health services, and a substantial child welfare program. Swedish family policies encourage both parents to work and to help each other with household and childcare tasks. Despite the public benefits that Sweden provides for mothers, fathers, and children, there is still a need for further improvements regarding policies on domestic violence, poverty, and child welfare. Assessments of Sweden’s family policies are discussed.
The meaning and significance of the institution of marriage has engendered angry and boisterous battles across the United States. While the efforts of lesbians and gay men to make marriage accessible to same-sex couples have seen increasing success, these initiatives have sparked a backlash as campaigns are waged to "protect" heterosexual marriage in America. Less in the public eye is government legislation that embraces the idea of marriage promotion as a necessary societal good. In this timely and extensive study of marriage politics, Melanie Heath uncovers broad cultural anxieties that fuel on-the-ground practices to reinforce a boundary of heterosexual marriage, questioning why marriage has become an issue of pervasive national preoccupation and anxiety, and explores the impact of policies that seek to reinstitutionalize heterosexual marriage in American society. From marriage workshops for the general public to relationship classes for welfare recipients to marriage education in high school classrooms, One Marriage Under God documents in meticulous detail the inner workings of ideologies of gender and heterosexuality in the practice of marriage promotion to fortify a concept of "one marriage," an Anglo-American ideal of Christian, heterosexual monogamy.
The aim of empirical research presented in this paper was to examine students' attitudes toward cohabitation and marriage. Convenience sampling was used to select 417 students between 18 and 36 years of age. Students were asked to mark their responses on the "Scale for measuring attitudes towards cohabitation and marriage", which consisted of 17 statements. Overall, students have moderately positive attitudes towards cohabitation. A statistically signifi cant diff erence was found between the majority of students who favor attitudes towards cohabitation as a preparation for marriage and those who view cohabitation as a form of permanent living arrangements between partners. Th ere was no statistically signifi cant diff erence between female and male students in attitudes toward cohabitation. Regarding other socio-demographic variables, the degree of religiosity was a statistically signifi cant predictor so that extremely religious students expressed least favorable attitudes toward cohabitation. Students have ambivalent attitudes toward marriage, with 60.4% who think that "marriage is not an outdated institution" and 68% who fi nd it "acceptable for an unmarried couple to live together even without the intention of ever getting married". Male students are more inclined to agree with the statements that "living together before marriage improves couple's chances for a happy marriage" and that "marriage is an outdated institution". Female students are more likely to agree with the statement that "good marriage and family life are extremely important". Female students also express some of their concerns by agreeing more with the statement that "there are not many successful and happy marriages today so one must wonder whether it is the right way of life".
This volume focuses on the relationship between change in the family and change in the roles of women and men on contemporary industrial societies. Of central concern is whether change in gender roles has fuelled - or is merely historically coincident with - such changes in the family as rising divorce rates, increases in out-of-wedlock childbearing, declining marriage rates, and a growing disconnection between the lives of men and children. Covering more that twenty countries, including the USA, the countries of western Europe, and Japan, each essay in the volume is organized around an important theoretical or policy question; all offer new data analyses, and several offer prescriptions of how to fashion more equitable and humane family and gender systems. The second demographic transition and microeconomic theory of marital exchange are the dominant theoretical models considered; several chapters feature state-of-the-art quantitative analyses of large scale surveys.
This article argues that marriage has under- gone a process of deinstitutionalization—a weakening of the social norms that define part- ners' behavior—over the past few decades. Ex- amples are presented involving the increasing number and complexity of cohabiting unions and the emergence of same-sex marriage. Two transitions in the meaning of marriage that occurred in the United States during the 20th century have created the social context for deinstitutionalization. The first transition, noted by Ernest Burgess, was from the institutional marriage to the companionate marriage. The second transition was to the individualized mar- riage in which the emphasis on personal choice and self-development expanded. Although the practical importance of marriage has declined, its symbolic significance has remained high and may even have increased. It has become a marker of prestige and personal achievement. Examples of its symbolic significance are presented. The implications for the current state of marriage and its future direction are discussed. A quarter century ago, in an article entitled ''Remarriage as an Incomplete Institution'' (Cherlin, 1978), I argued that American society lacked norms about the way that members of stepfamilies should act toward each other. Par- ents and children in first marriages, in contrast, could rely on well-established norms, such as when it is appropriate to discipline a child. I predicted that, over time, as remarriage after divorce became common, norms would begin to emerge concerning proper behavior in step- families—for example, what kind of relationship a stepfather should have with his stepchildren. In other words, I expected that remarriage would become institutionalized, that it would become more like first marriage. But just the opposite has happened. Remarriage has not become more like first marriage; rather, first marriage has become more like remarriage. Instead of the institutionalization of remarriage,
Change in marriage and cohabitation began in France thirty years ago. 2.5 million cohabiting couples and more than 40 per cent of births outside marriage reveals not only a new acceptability of cohabitation and family formation out of wedlock, but a new social signification of marriage itself. In this paper, we analyse what appears to have been a 'soft' revolution, widely accepted, and a paradoxical mutation. While the abandonment of a strictly matrimonial conception of the family is generally accepted in France, attitudes are much more contradictory with respect to legal rights of unmarried couples. The long, complex and controversial story of the evolution of the Pacs ( Parte Civil de Solidarité , shows, behind the issue of homosexuality, how difficult it is for French culture to conceive a legal status of non-married couples. The Pacs, as a new possibility for heterosexual as well as homosexual cohabitees, is not easy to define from a legal point of view. This intermediate status, neither a union nor a contract, neither private nor public, expresses the ambiguity of the French way of responding to increasing cohabitation. Analysing the Pacs as a transitory law , we suggest that a complex jurisprudential story is now beginning in France. This paper ends with a broader perspective on the interpretation of family change: no consensus exists in academic and political circles. The new forms of social inequalities will certainly represent one of the main issues in the public, academic and political debate in the future.
This paper examines the role of marriage as an institution for providing couples with the confidence to make long-term investments in their relationship. No-fault divorce has undermined the notion of marriage as a contract, thereby reducing the security offered by marriage and promoting opportunism by men. This has weakened the bargaining power of wives, both within marriage and when divorce occurs. Current legal reforms will improve the economic position of all divorced wives, including those who are primarily responsible for the breakdown of their marriage. The latter feature will encourage opportunism by women and make men less prepared to invest in their marriage. The paper argues that the only way to achieve parity between men and women, and deter opportunism by either sex, is to return to fault-based divorce. Both divorce settlements and the custody of children should depend on preceding marital conduct. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.
Major changes have happened in households and people’s lives in most countries in the developed world. Marriage rates have fallen, divorce has risen, women are having fewer children and later in life, and there has been a rise in childbearing outside marriage. One in four families is headed by a lone parent. We are all getting older. These changes have significance that goes beyond the individual families - with implications for housing demand, social security benefits, labour force participation, health, and social services. Changing Britain provides a comprehensive portrait of British families and households at the end of the 20th century. The book examines more generally the nature of economic and labour market change, Britain’s place in Europe, and changing attitudes towards family life. Specifically, the book also deals with issues such as; older people’s lives; non-heterosexual families; one-person households; young mothers and single parents; and divorce.
Children in Britain are amongst the most likely of European Union children to grow up in poverty (Bradbury and Jantti 1999; Piachaud and Sutherland 2000; and Table 9.4 in this volume). An important engine behind this vulnerability is significant differences in the demography of family life in Britain compared with other European countries. British children, compared with their European contemporaries, are more likely to be born to young mothers and to solo mothers, are more likely to see their parents separate and to live in lone-mother families, all of which enhance the chances of growing up disadvantaged (Kiernan 1997b, 1999; Bradshaw et al. 1996).
This article aims first to contrast the trends of marriage and cohabitation across different regions in Canada, and second, to assess whether cohabitation constitutes a new stage in the progression to marriage, or an alternative to marriage altogether. Based on various empirical demographic indicators, the analysis shows profound differences across the country. In Quebec, cohabiting unions are now widely accepted as forming the basis for family life, whereas they still largely constitute a childless prelude to marriage elsewhere in Canada. The authors discuss the role of different religious and cultural backgrounds, and of recent changes in the relationships between men and women, in accounting for the divergent evolution observed.
This article considers the quality of the evidence that marriage confers unique benefits, and that, as such, social policies should be enacted to encourage couples, particularly those with few economic resources, to get married and stay together. Public concern about the future of marriage in the United States, we show, is rooted in demographic changes that reflect not so much a turning away from marriage, but an increasing openness to postponing marriage, living together out of wedlock, or divorcing. We examine why people who are motivated to marry hold back from doing so when they see the warning signs of future problems, and what happens when they marry despite them. We argue that marriages are fashioned in the images of the partners and are shaped by the opportunities and constraints of the ecological settings in which they are situated. As such, the promotion of family health and stability will require an approach that attends to couples' psychological, social, and economic needs.
Cohabitation is a rapidly changing aspect of family life in the United States and Britain. This article describes the demography of cohabitation, considers the place of cohabitation in the kinship system, and speculates on the future of cohabitation. I argue that three processes—cohort replacement, socialization that occurs when children live with cohabiting parents, and social diffusion—will foster continued increases in rates of cohabitation. These processes are also likely to increase variation in the types of cohabiting relationships that couples form. Understanding the meaning of cohabitation in the kinship system requires distinguishing between individuals' attitudes about their own relationships and the composition of cohabiting unions at the population level.
Both partners from gay and lesbian cohabiting couples without children were compared longitudinally with both partners from heterosexual married couples with children (N at first assessment = 80, 53, and 80 couples, respectively) on variables from 5 domains indicative of relationship health. For 50% of the comparisons, gay and lesbian partners did not differ from heterosexual partners. Seventy-eight percent of the comparisons on which differences were found indicated that gay or lesbian partners functioned better than heterosexual partners did. Because the variables that predicted concurrent relationship quality and relationship stability for heterosexual parents also did so for gay and lesbian partners, I conclude that the processes that regulate relationship functioning generalize across gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples.
Mary Ann Glendon offers a comparative and historical analysis of rapid and profound changes in the legal system beginning in the 1960s in England, France, West Germany, Sweden, and the United States, while bringing new and insightful interpretation and critical thought to bear on the explosion of legislation in the last decade. "Glendon is generally acknowledged to be the premier comparative law scholar in the area of family law. This volume, which offers an analytical survey of the changes in family law over the past twenty-five years, will burnish that reputation. Essential reading for anyone interested in evaluating the major changes that occurred in the law of the family. . . . [And] of serious interest to those in the social sciences as well."âJames B. Boskey, Law Books in Review "Poses important questions and supplies rich detail."âBarbara Bennett Woodhouse, Texas Law Review "An impressive scholarly documentation of the legal changes that comprise the development of a conjugally-centered family system."âDebra Friedman, Contemporary Sociology "She has painted a portrait of the family in which we recognize not only ourselves but also unremembered ideological forefathers. . . . It sends our thoughts out into unexpected adventures."âInga Markovits, Michigan Law Review
The modern form of cohabitation started later and developed more slowly in Norway than in the other Scandinavian countries. Now the differences between the Scandinavian countries are much smaller, and cohabitation is more common than in any other parts of Europe. The percentage of Norwegian women aged twenty to thirty-nine who are cohabiting is more than twice that in Great Britain. Several responses to the changing family behaviour have been adopted since the late 1960s, but major amendments in the laws and regulations were not put into force until the 1990s. Today, cohabiting couples who have children together or have lived together for minimum two years will have many of the same rights and obligations to social security, pensions and taxation as their married counterparts. As regards the economic relationships between cohabiting partners no intervention is still the main principle. The Norwegian family policy reflects a relatively smooth and pragmatic adaption to the changing nuptiality pattern, but there is no wish to erase totally the differences between cohabiting and married couples.
During the last twenty years family law has been confronted with various social developments. The growing importance of extra-marital cohabitation, the increasing number of children born out of wedlock and the demand for the equal treatment of homosexuals are part of a new social reality which cannot be ignored. These social changes have taken place in several countries, including some of the post-Communist States. One way in which the legislator has responded to these social changes is by introducing registered partnership legislation as has been done in the Netherlands. In this article the Dutch Registered Partnership Act will be examined. The position of homosexual partners with regard to the availability of marriage and the shared custody and guardianship of children will also be considered. Thus the advantages and the disadvantages of the Dutch solution will become clear and this might be interesting from a comparative law perspective.
This book explores the issue of social exclusion. It asks three main questions: How can social exclusion be measured? What are its main determinants or influences? And what policies can reduce social exclusion? The authors aim to consider how a focus on social exclusion may alter the policy questions that are most relevant by fostering debate in government, research, and academic circles.
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Cohabitation without marriage in Swedish law Marriage and cohabitation in contemporary socie-ties (pp
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Gay marriage: Why it is good for gays, good for straights, and good for America
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Supporting families (Green Paper) London: Stationery Office
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Registered partnerships in the Netherlands Same-sex couples and hetero-normativity. Paper presented at the annual Population Association of America meeting Registered partnerships in the Netherlands
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Non-marital childbearing: A European perspective Out of wedlock: Causes and consequences of nonmarital fertility
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The transformation of intimacy
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Marriage-lite: The rise of cohabi-tation and its consequences
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Diverging destinies. Presidential address to the Population Association of America meeting Family obligations in Europe
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Divorce-risk patterns in same-sex ''marriages'' in Sweden and Norway. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Pop-ulation Association of America Family law and political culture
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Divorce-risk patterns in same-sex “marriages” in Sweden and Norway. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America Boston
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Diverging destinies. Presidential address to the Population Association of America meeting Boston
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Same-sex couples and heteronormativity. Paper presented at the annual Population Association of America meeting
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