Unmarried Cohabitation and Parenthood: here to stay

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Unmarried Cohabitation and Parenthood here to
stay?

• European perspectives
• Valerie Boling and Melissa Long

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Introduction

• The recent rise in unmarried cohabitation and
  having children outside of marriage is the most
  dramatic development in many Western European
  nations
• Cohabitation is regarded as a recent change, but
• It includes a range of living arrangements, some
  of which are traditional.
• Prior to the 1970s it was statistically and
  socially invisible

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Introduction

• In some countries there were sub-groups more
  prone to cohabitation
• The poor
• Broken marriages that were unable to divorce
• Groups of rural dwellers
• Groups ideologically opposed to marriage

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A new form of Cohabitation

• 1950s and 60s
• Post-marital cohabitation was most prevalent form
• In England, only 6 of never married women lived
  with their husband prior to marriage compared to
  25 of remarried women
• Up to the 70s, this was considered the golden
  age of marriage because many couples were getting
  married younger. Marriage was youthful and
  almost universal.
• During the 70s the marriage rate declined and
  the average increased

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A new form of Cohabitation

• 1970s through today
• Young people now live together as a prelude to
  marriage or an alternative to it.

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The Rise of Cohabitation Evidence from Fertility
and Family Studies

• Younger women, aged 25 29 are more likely to
  cohabitate than older women.
• This is true in most European countries except
  Sweden and Southern Europe.
• In Sweden, cohabitation was established long
  before any other country
• In Southern Europe (Italy and Spain), marriage is
  the start of the first partnership for the
  majority of women.

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The Rise of Cohabitation Evidence from Fertility
and Family Studies

• By early 90s cohabitation eclipsed marriage for
  first partnership
• Question is Are they durable alternatives to
  marriage?
• How long to first partnerships starting with
  cohabitation last?
• If you only look at relationships converting to
  marriage within the first five years, individual
  countries are similar except Sweden
• In Sweden, 1 in 3 converted to marriage
• In most other countries, 1 in 2 convert

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Levels of Cohabitation

• Cohabitation is very common in the Nordic
  countries of Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. As
  well as France.
• The Southern European countries have very low
  levels of cohabitation, 10 or less.
• Most countries fall in between the two extremes.

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Levels of Cohabitation

• In most Western and Northern European countries,
  over 50 of unions are cohabitating.
• In Southern European countries, 40 of unions are
  cohabitating.
• Today, cohabitation is an important component in
  the totality of partnerships in most European
  countries.

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Educational Level and the Incidence of
Cohabitation

• When cohabitation came into prominence in the
  1980s, researchers wanted to discover where it
  first took hold.
• Results were inconclusive, either pointing
  towards
• The poor
• University students
• Upper class children
• Each country has their own ideas as to what group
  cohabitation started in.

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Educational Level and the Incidence of
Cohabitation

• Researchers also wanted to know about the
  education level of cohabiters.
• Of current cohabiters, aged 25 34
• 33 left full-time education at 17 or younger
• 25 left between 18 and 19
• 42 left at age 20 or older, or are still a
  full-time student.
• Individually, countries vary. For example
• In England, only 18 left at 20 or older, or
  still in school
• In Denmark, 81 left at 20 or older, or still in
  school
• The bottomline
• There is no coherent and consistent pattern with
  the propensity to cohabitate according education
  level

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Unmarried Parenthood

• Until the end of the 20th century marriage was
  the conventional setting for having children in
  most European nations, but has eroded since.
• Since 1970 there has been an increase in the
  amount of childbirths outside of marriage.
• 1970
• Only 5 of 19 countries had non-marital birth
  rations of more than 10.
• The frontrunner, Sweden, had 19
• Austria is an exception because of the long
  standing tradition of marriage after the first
  child.
• Only Sweden and Denmark show strong evidence of
  the rise in births outside marriage being
  directly related to the rise in cohabitation.

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• Today
• Countries that had low ratios then tend to have
  low ratios now
• Ireland made a significant rise from 5 to 32
• Austria and the U.S. have lower ratios compared
  to the past.
• The U.S.
• The flattening of the unmarried parenthood line
  occurred after 1995 which coincides with
• Welfare reforms
• Decline in teen pregnancy
• Increase in teen contraceptive use
• The engine driving the rise in non-marital
  child-bearing is the rise in cohabitation

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Cohabitation and Children

• In al countries, married couples are more likely
  to have a child living with them than are
  cohabiting couples.
• Around 70 of married couples have children as
  compared to 40 of cohabiting couples.

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