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Intentions to Live Together Among Couples Living Apart: Differences by Age and Gender

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Alisa C. Lewin at University of Haifa
Alisa C. Lewin
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One of the central questions about LAT (living apart together) is whether these partnerships are short-term arrangements due to temporary constraints, and should be viewed as part of courtship towards cohabitation and marriage, or whether they replace cohabitation and marriage as a long-term arrangement. The current study addresses this question and examines intentions to live together among people living apart by age and gender. This study uses Generations and Gender Study (GGS) data for eleven European countries. The findings reveal an interesting interaction of age and gender. More specifically, younger women have higher intentions to live together than younger men, but older women have lower intentions than older men. These gender differences remain significant also in the multivariate analyses. These findings suggest that older women in LAT may be undoing gender to a greater extent than younger women, who still intend to live in a more traditional (and probably gendered) arrangement of cohabitation and possibly marriage. Having resident children reduces intentions to live together among people younger than age 50, but the effect does not differ by gender. The effect of non-resident children on intentions to live together is statistically non-significant.
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Intentions to Live Together Among Couples Living
Apart: Differences by Age and Gender
Alisa C. Lewin
1
Received: 18 May 2016 / Accepted: 21 September 2017 / Published online: 4 December 2017
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017
Abstract One of the central questions about LAT (living apart together) is whether
these partnerships are short-term arrangements due to temporary constraints, and
should be viewed as part of courtship towards cohabitation and marriage, or whether
they replace cohabitation and marriage as a long-term arrangement. The current
study addresses this question and examines intentions to live together among people
living apart by age and gender. This study uses Generations and Gender Study
(GGS) data for eleven European countries. The findings reveal an interesting
interaction of age and gender. More specifically, younger women have higher
intentions to live together than younger men, but older women have lower intentions
than older men. These gender differences remain significant also in the multivariate
analyses. These findings suggest that older women in LAT may be undoing gender
to a greater extent than younger women, who still intend to live in a more traditional
(and probably gendered) arrangement of cohabitation and possibly marriage. Hav-
ing resident children reduces intentions to live together among people younger than
age 50, but the effect does not differ by gender. The effect of non-resident children
on intentions to live together is statistically non-significant.
Keywords LAT Living apart together GGP Gender and generations
&Alisa C. Lewin
alewin@soc.haifa.ac.il
1
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel,
3498838 Haifa, Israel
123
Eur J Population (2018) 34:721–743
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-017-9446-0
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Gender and age were factors that predominantly predicted attitudes toward cohabitation (e.g., Kgadima, 2017;Lewin, 2018;Manning et al., 2007;Ojewola & Akinduyo, 2017;Shields-Dutton, 2016). In the United States of America (USA), generational differences were observed as a significant differentiator of cohabitation attitudes. ...
... Millennials (23-42 years) differed significantly from other cohorts [i.e., the Silent Generation (78-98 years), the Baby Boomer Generation (59-77 years), and Generation X (43-58 years)] in that they held more favourable views of non-marital cohabitation, whereas the other generations did not show as much of a variance between each other (Shields-Dutton, 2016). Among unmarried couples in Eastern and Western Europe and Australia, intentions to live together increased with age for younger people [20-30 years] and decreased with age for older people [31-51+ years] (Lewin, 2018). This contradicts the view that young people hold more liberal values towards marriage and cohabitation. ...
... However, younger adults tend to associate age with maturity and readiness, and therefore would typically want to wait until they finish their schooling and are somewhat financially independent before they express intentions to live together. For older couples, living together is more complicated because it requires a merging of finances, careers, children, and lifestyles (Lewin, 2018). ...
Is cohabitation a prerequisite for marriage?: Exploring Ghanaian emerging adults’ attitudes and intentions
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With cohabitation increasingly becoming a relationship option for many young adults, understanding the attitudes and intentions that fuel the decision to cohabit is important. Using a generic qualitative research design, we set out to explore this among emerging adults in a Ghanaian university. Our sample included 44 students who participated in a discussion focused on determining what cohabitation means to them, the significance they attach to cohabitation, their evaluations and whether they intend to cohabit. Regarding participants’ attitudes, four themes were generated from analyses of the data including ‘Meaning of Cohabitation’, ‘Cohabitation before Marriage is Crucial to Marital Success’, ‘Cohabitation is a Gateway to Moral and Institutional Transgressions’, and ‘As Long as We Marry’. Findings also showed significant gender differences in intention to cohabit although the consensus among participants was that one’s intention to cohabit is dependent on the individual’s personal and vicarious experiences within their environment. Based on these findings, we recommend that counsellors and guardians be equipped with the knowledge base and skills required to help young adults navigate cohabitation relationships and advocate for strengthening policy and education on cohabitation.
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... To start, background factors are important elements for individual evaluation of opportunities and limitations. When approaching the matters of marriage, having children, or moving, individuals weigh their income, education, socioeconomic and other variables (e.g., Avery et al., 1992;Kerckhoff & Macrae, 1992;Mulder et al., 2002;Aassve et al., 2002;Billari, 2004;Iacovou, 2010;Aassve et al., 2013;Schwanitz et al., 2017;Testa & Stephany 2017;Lewin, 2018). Moreover, background factors can serve as tools to infer normative expectations that individuals may hold vis-a-vis demographic decisions (Liefbroer & Billari, 2010). ...
... A disconnection between marriage and childbearing has been gaining momentum (Thornton & Philipov, 2009) whilst serial cohabitation has been found to have a significantly strong negative association with intentions to marry in younger cohorts (Vespa, 2014). These tendencies can also be exacerbated by socioeconomic deprivation (e.g., Aassve et al., 2013;Schwanitz et al., 2017;Testa & Stephany 2017;Lewin, 2018). Therefore, the following hypothesis says: ...
Life course decisions in Central and Eastern Europe: A gendered connection between family formation and moving intentions?
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Objective: This paper investigates the association between family formation intentions of marriage and childbearing in connection to moving intentions in early life course in Central and Eastern Europe. Background: While connections between intentions in Western Europe has received some scholarly attention, the link between marriage, having children and moving intentions has been largely overlooked in Central and Eastern Europe. We look at the connection between these intentions in the region. Method: We hypothesise that intentions to marry, have children and move may be positively related, negatively related or not related at all; and that gender serves as a channel through which the connection between family formation intentions and intention to move is expressed. In order to verify the hypotheses, we use Generations and Gender Survey data round 1 wave 1 focusing on the analytical sample based on individuals between 17 and 49 year olds from 5 Central and Eastern European countries. We run seemingly unrelated bivariate ordered probit regressions to estimate the relationship between the intentions. Results: We find a positive association between family formation intentions and intention to move. However, there is no evidence suggesting this association is channelled through gender. Conclusion: There exists an indication that intentions of marriage, childbearing and moving are joint.
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... Another line of research focuses on the differences of cohabiting couples and couples who are "living apart together" (Lois and Lois 2012;Régnier-Loilier 2016;Wagner et al. 2019). Such studies examine the motives for establishing a joint household (Sassler 2004, Rhoades et al. 2009, Huang et al. 2011Hiekel et al. 2014;Hiekel and Keizer 2015;Coulter and Hu 2017;Krapf 2018;Lewin 2018) or analyze decisions about which partner moves in with the other (Krapf et al. 2021). Other studies focus on the social and economic preconditions for moving in together and related social-inequality aspects. ...
... Other studies focus on the social and economic preconditions for moving in together and related social-inequality aspects. They examine how financial aspects (Clarkberg 1999;Sassler and McNally 2003;Smock et al. 2005;Mulder et al. 2006;Wiik 2009;Kalmijn 2011;Jalovaara 2012;Lois and Lois 2012;Addo 2014;Wagner et al. 2019), social background (Thornton et al. 1995;Wiik 2009;Jalovaara 2012;Kuo and Raley 2016;Wagner et al. 2019), and gender differences (Waller and McLanahan 2005;Huang et al. 2011;Lewin 2018;Parker 2020) affect the occurrence of moving in together. ...
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... However, research on such topics in later life is scarce. While "living-apart-together" relationships of younger adults tend to transform into a co-residential union if there is an option to move in (Pasteels, Lyssens-Danneboom, & Mortelmans, 2017), older adults more often view it as a permanent relationship form, as this fits with chrono-norms of family members (especially children) and friends and does not interfere with maintaining separate lifestyles and finances (de Jong Gierveld & Merz, 2013;Lewin, 2018). ...
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Moving Beyond: Policy, Psychosocial Intervention, and Research Implications
Chapter
  • May 2024
The final chapter brings together the findings, future trends for LATT couples, and implications for policy, psychosocial intervention, and research. It also argues that policymakers and practitioners accept intimacy and distance intersections as genuine relationships. The chapter predicts an increase in LATT couples, where naming through the new acronym LATT brings attention and legitimacy. Relevant psychosocial intervention and research on LATT dynamics would alleviate suffering, leading to greater thriving at personal and societal levels. There are reflections on the theory, especially the value of decolonising psychology frame invoking spirituality, conceptualisations such as “flexible pragmatism,” and “professional necessity” for examining LATT dynamics. Furthermore, research suggestions are discussed, including longitudinal and symmetrical transnational collaboration across multi-sites. Ultimately, the book contributes to grasping human relationships, especially the understudied field of intimacy and distance, confirming that intimacy, proximity, and distance coexist as LATT couples navigate the challenges of maintaining intimacy across nations.
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Gendered Practices: Gender Order, Significant Others, and Parenting
Chapter
  • May 2024
This chapter’s goal is to explore the LATT couples’ gender roles and practices in transnational settings. Differentiating between sex and gender, it explores the historical ‘gender order,’ zooming in on studies-based patterns about some LAT couples’ subversion of this order. It focuses on how LATT upset the traditional gender expectations about the so-called trailing partner, allowing most women more freedom, subverting gendered cohabitation norms (Upton John, 2015), and balancing autonomy and fusion. The overarching concept of transnational feminism, including differences, similarities, and connections across national borders (Mohanty, 2001), is drawn upon to investigate further gender dynamics. Moreover, the social support/ pressure to live together by the “significant others” is discussed. It also demonstrates that non-cohabitation is not a salient issue for the three same-sex LATT couples in the book’s empirical study. Lastly, the Chapter highlights the relatively rare phenomenon of parenting among LATT couples with young children, which is just 20% of the participants in the study.
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References
Chapter
  • Aug 2023
Why do people fall in love? Does passion fade with time? What makes for a happy, healthy relationship? This introduction to relationship science follows the lifecycle of a relationship – from attraction and initiation, to the hard work of relationship maintenance, to dissolution and ways to strengthen a relationship. Designed for advanced undergraduates studying psychology, communication or family studies, this textbook presents a fresh, diversity-infused approach to relationship science. It includes real-world examples and critical-thinking questions, callout boxes that challenge students to make connections, and researcher interviews that showcase the many career paths of relationship scientists. Article Spotlights reveal cutting-edge methods, while Diversity and Inclusion boxes celebrate the variety found in human love and connection. Throughout the book, students see the application of theory and come to recognize universal themes in relationships as well as the nuances of many findings. Instructors can access lecture slides, an instructor manual, and test banks.
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A Life Course Perspective on Living Apart Together: Meaning and Incidence Across Europe
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The increased variability in family types and forms of relationships is the most apparent outcome of family change in recent decades in Europe. One relationship that has emerged and recently become more visible, both in society and in science, is a ‘nonresidential partnership’ termed living apart together (LAT). We explore the meaning and incidence of LAT partnerships across Europe using a life course perspective. Cluster analysis using five cluster variables (living independently from parents, never having lived as a couple before, the intention to cohabit in the future, the age of the respondents, and the duration of the relationship) was carried out on data from the Generations and Gender Survey for ten countries. Four types of non-residential partnership across Europe are revealed. From a measurement perspective, a simplified model provides empirical evidence that three indicators are sufficient to detect and situate LAT relationships on a partnership continuum: (1) having a nonresidential partner, (2) the age of the respondent, and (3) the duration of the LAT relationship. Classifying relationships with a non-resident partner can be carried out efficiently if information about the age of the respondent and the duration of the current LAT relationship is available.
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Living Apart Together and Cohabitation Intentions in Great Britain
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  • Jul 2017
A growing number of studies examine how, why, and when people form and maintain living apart together (LAT) relationships. Although this literature shows that LAT is a diverse and ambiguous practice, little is known about whether people live apart together in particular ways under distinct constellations of life course circumstances. Moreover, it is unclear how intentions to convert LAT into cohabitation are configured by life trajectories. Drawing on data from an unprecedentedly large survey of people in LAT partnerships, we construct a fourfold typology of individuals in LAT relationships and show that each of the identified profiles is characterized by a distinctive position in the life course and different cohabitation intentions. These results indicate that LAT is a flexible way to practice partnership within the context of life course circumstances.
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Marriage and separation risks among German cohabiters: Differences between types of cohabiter
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2015
  • POP STUD-J DEMOG
We propose a typology of different meanings of cohabitation that combines cohabiters' intentions to marry with a general attitude toward marriage, using competing risk analyses to examine whether some cohabiters are more prone than others to marry or to separate. Using data (N = 1,258) from four waves of the German Family Panel (PAIRFAM) and a supplementary study (DEMODIFF), we compared eastern and western German cohabiters of the birth cohorts 1971-73 and 1981-83. Western Germans more frequently view cohabitation as a step in the marriage process, whereas eastern Germans more often cohabit as an alternative to marriage. Taking into account marital attitudes reveals that cohabiters without marriage plans differ from those with plans in their relationship careers, and also shows that cohabiters who plan to marry despite holding a less favourable view of marriage are less likely to realize their plans than cohabiters whose intentions and attitudes are more congruent.
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Multilevel Modeling of Country Effects: A Cautionary Tale
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  • May 2015
Country effects on outcomes for individuals are often analysed using multilevel (hierarchical) models applied to harmonized multi-country data sets such as ESS, EU-SILC, EVS, ISSP, and SHARE. We point out problems with the assessment of country effects that appear not to be widely appreciated, and develop our arguments using Monte Carlo simulation analysis of multilevel linear and logit models. With large sample sizes of individuals within each country but only a small number of countries, analysts can reliably estimate individual-level effects but estimates of parameters summarizing country effects are likely to be unreliable. Multilevel modelling methods are no panacea.
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Why do intimate partners live apart? Evidence on LAT relationships across Europe
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2015
  • DEMOGR RES
Most research asks whether or not cohabitation has come to rival marriage. Little is known about the meaning of living apart together (LAT) relationships, and whether LAT is an alternative to marriage and cohabitation or a dating relationship. We examine across Europe: (1) the prevalence of LAT, (2) the reasons for LAT, and (3) the correlates of (a) LAT relationships vis-à-vis being single, married, or cohabiting, and (b) different types of LAT union. Using Generations and Gender Survey data from ten Western and Eastern European countries, we present descriptive statistics about LATs and estimate multinominal logistic regression models to assess the correlates of being in different types of LAT unions. LAT relationships are uncommon, but they are more common in Western than Eastern Europe. Most people in LAT unions intend to live together but are apart for practical reasons. LAT is more common among young people, those enrolled in higher education, people with liberal attitudes, highly educated people, and those who have previously cohabited or been married. Older people and divorced or widowed persons are more likely to choose LAT to maintain independence. Surprisingly, attitudinal and educational differences are more pronounced in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. A tentative conclusion is that LAT is more often a stage in the union formation process than an alternative to marriage and cohabitation. Yet some groups do view LAT as substituting for marriage and cohabitation, and these groups differ between East and West. In Eastern Europe a cultural, highly educated elite seems to be the first to resist traditional marriage norms and embrace LAT (and cohabitation) as alternative living arrangements, whereas this is less the case in Western Europe. In Western Europe, LAT unions are mainly an alternative for persons who have been married before or had children in a prior relationship.
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‘Alone Together’ Marriages and ‘Living Apart Together’ Relationships
Chapter
  • Oct 2013
In the USA, although married partners are spending less time together now than in the past, they continue to be generally happy with their marriages. In this chapter, ‘Alone Together’ marriages and ‘Living Apart Together’ (LAT) relationships are examined with reference to studies conducted in the USA and Europe respectively. The growth of ‘Alone Together Marriages’ is illustrated with US surveys, conducted in 1980 and 2000. In Europe, scholars have described ‘Living Apart Together’ (LAT) relationships, in which couples maintain long-term sexually exclusive relationships but choose to live separately in different households. Among young people, the rise in LAT relationships reflects the emergence of a developmental period in which decisions and commitments that signify adulthood are postponed. Among older adults, LAT relationships reflect the growth of individualism and a decline in the perceived necessity and value of traditional marriage. These two types of LATs have different causes and contexts.
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Health and Relationship Quality Later in Life: A Comparison of Living Apart Together (LAT), First Marriages, Remarriages, and Cohabitation
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  • May 2016
This study compares happiness in the relationship, support, and strain in LAT (living apart together, i.e., noncohabiting) relationships with first marriages, remarriages, and cohabitation among older adults in the United States. The study also asks whether partner’s health affects relationship quality differently in different relationship types. This study draws on the first wave of the National Social Life Health & Aging Project 2005-2006, (n = 1992). Partner’s physical and mental health are good predictors of relationship quality and their effects do not differ by relationship type. Men are more likely to be very happy in their relationship and to receive high support than women, but they also report more strain. LAT relationships are less likely to be very happy and to have high support than marriage and remarriage, but they also have lower strain. Different interpretations of “strain” are discussed.
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From Motivations to Accounts: An Interpretive Analysis of "Living Apart Together" Relationships in Mid- to Later-Life Couples
Article
  • Apr 2014
Living Apart Together (LAT) relationships involve two people in a long-term, committed intimate relationship who choose to live in separate households. We present findings from one of the first Canadian studies of this phenomenon, also distinct in its use of an interpretive approach to the phenomenon. Fifty-six mid- to late-life participants (28 couples) were interviewed in-person; data were analyzed through the lens of interpretive inquiry. LAT relationships were constructed by participants as protecting personal independence while mitigating relationship risks associated with cohabitation. Participants further justified their arrangements by drawing on ideas about age and/or gender. Though LAT arrangements may help enact the empowering potential of Giddens’ “pure relationship,” they can represent individual-level solutions to broader gendered inequities in cohabiting relationships.
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Methodological Advances in Cross-National Research: Multilevel Challenges and Solutions
Article
  • Feb 2016
Since its inception, the European Sociological Review (ESR) has encouraged ‘cross-national comparative work which concentrates on or includes European societies’ ( Mayer, Goldthorpe and Ringen, 1985 ). Although our focus is not merely on papers of a cross-national nature, we have published a considerable number of such studies. Another aim of ESR is to further the more general development of sociology by publishing theoretical and methodological articles where these have a direct relevance for sociological research. A recent example of a prominent methodological study in ESR was the article by Carina Mood (2010) , which has—judging from the nearly 300 citations it has already received in SSCI-listed journals alone—had considerable impact on the way logistic regression is practiced (or not) in contemporary social science research. The Special Section in this volume of ESR once again tackles another fundamental methodological issue in sociology. This section consists of two methodological papers that we hope will, once again, have a considerable impact on the discipline. These articles raise important concerns about the way much of current cross-national research is conducted. In the first contribution, Bryan and Jenkins (2016) address problems of the use of the multilevel (random effects) model in cross-national analyses. They likewise address the common question: How many countries are required to correctly estimate a multilevel model? They conclude that more than a fifth of all articles published in ESR between 2005 and 2012 used multilevel models of individuals nested in countries, and that in more than half of those articles random effects models where used. Data sets typically used in these applications—such as the European Social Survey or the International Social Survey Program—usually provide information on only a limited number of countries. This lack of degrees of freedom at the country level impedes robust estimates of ‘country effects’ or, in other words, country-level characteristics that are related to outcomes at the individual level. From a set of Monte Carlo simulations, they conclude that 25 countries for linear random effects models and 30 countries for logit models are the bare minimum for estimating country effects. Ignoring these critical numbers leads to imprecise estimates, and too often country effects will be detected where there are none. We hope and anticipate that this article will serve as a guideline of best practices in cross-national comparative research using multilevel models.
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Gender differences in relationship preferences after union dissolution
Article
  • Jul 2015
  • Adv Life Course Res
Women less often remarry or cohabit again after union dissolution than men. To develop our understanding of this gender gap, we look at men's and women's relationship preferences following the dissolution of marital and cohabiting unions. Using the Dutch Generations and Gender Survey Study (N = 973), results show that divorced or separated women less often want to live with a partner again than men, and this holds for both singles and persons with a steady partner. Men and women generally do not differ in their desire to marry, except when they cohabit. Cohabiting women express a weaker desire for marriage than cohabiting men. Overall, we find women are less willing than men to proceed to the next step in a relationship—from dating, to living together, to marriage. Children from previous relationships are pivotal for both men's and women's relationship preferences. Having (young) resident prior children attenuates women's desire to live together, whereas for men it is the frequency of contact with non-resident prior children that matters. Because women more often than men have primary care of children after divorce or separation, the gender difference in the desire to live with another partner is largely explained by women's greater involvement with children from previous relationships. We conclude that understanding preferences can provide better insight into gendered differences in relationship formation after union dissolution.
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