1 / 46

Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution

Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution. Wendy D. Manning Department of Sociology Center for Family and Demographic Research National Center for Family and Demographic Research Bowling Green State University.

trynt
Download Presentation

Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution Wendy D. Manning Department of Sociology Center for Family and Demographic Research National Center for Family and Demographic Research Bowling Green State University

  2. OutlineTrends in Canada and USStudies of Cohabitation and Marital DissolutionQualitative FindingsQuantitative ResultsDiscussionCollaborators: Jessica Cohen, Pamela Smock

  3. Marriage • Crude Marriage Rate • Women US 7.4 Canada 4.4 • Adjusted Rate per 1,000 unmarried (15+) • Women US 32.9 Canada 22.2 • Proportion Population Married (20+) • Women US 52.9%% Canada 39.3%

  4. Age at First Marriage, 1950-2010 Data from Statistics Canada and the U.S. Census

  5. Cohabitation • Percent population cohabiting (20+) • US 5.5% Canada 8.9% • 1970-79 20% of Canadian women married with cohabitation. • 2000-2006 27% of Canadian women married with • cohabitation. (France-PascaleMénardMcGill Sociological Review, Vol. 2, April 2011 ) • 1965-74 11% of US women married with cohabitation. • 2000-2008 67% of US women married with cohabitation. (NCFMR - Manning, 2011)

  6. Couple Households Data from Statistics Canada and the U.S. Census

  7. Couples within Canada – 2000-2006

  8. Divorce • Crude Divorce Rate (per 1,000 Population): 2.2 2005 Canada 3.8 2010 US • Divorce Rate per 1,000 Married women 15+ • 9.2 Canada US 16.4 • Percent population divorced: • 5.1% 2007 Canada 8.7% US 2010 • Marriage Cohort • 2008 Canada ~41% 2010 US~50%

  9. U.S. PatternsCohabitationDivorceTesting Ground

  10. Cohabitation Trends

  11. Cohabitation Trends Increase in cohabitation

  12. Cohabitation Trends • Majority of Newlyweds Cohabit

  13. Marital Dissolution Trends

  14. Cohabitation Paradox Marital Search Perspective – Cohabitation “weed out” poor matches NSFH -- “Couples can be sure they are compatible before marriage” 51% and 56% of young men and women endorsing it as important. (Bumpass, Sweet, and Cherlin 1991)

  15. Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution • Positive association between cohabitation and marital dissolution • Newcomb and Bentler (1980) • Newcomb (1986) • Bennet, Blanc and Bloom (1988) -- Sweden • Teachman and Polonko (1990) • DeMaris and Rao (1992) • Schoen (1992) • DeMaris and McDonald (1993) • Lillard, Brien, and Waite (1995) • Woods and Emery (2002) • Teachman (2002) • Teachman (2003) • Kamp Dush, Cohen and Amato (2003) • Phillips and Sweeney (2005) • Brown, Sanchez, Nock, and Wright (2006) • Stanley,Rhoades, Amato, Markman, and Johnson (2010) • Rheinhold (2010) • Jose, O’Leary, and Moyer (2010) -– Meta-analysis

  16. Cohabitation as Testing Ground

  17. Qualitative Data Views of Cohabitation • Divorce-proof marriages • Learn more about partner • Practice marital roles – lease, test drive

  18. Cohabitation & Marriage in America 115 semistructured interviews: young adults who have ever cohabited 60 couples: cohabiting, married, or dating 18 focus groups ≈ 126 young adults P.I.’s: Wendy Manning and Pamela SmockNIH: R03HD039835 and R01HD040910

  19. Cohabiting Couple: Test Drive Joy: I kinda have the theory of, you know, test drive {LAUGH}. Test drive the car before you buy it. You know? Just kinda see, you know, because you could love each other but not be able to live with each other. Like if he’s a slob and I’m very clean, I would have a big problem with that. Bill: [Cohabitation] It’s good, but it’s bad. It’s good because, umm, it will, you get to know the person and their habits before you get married. So that way, you won’t have to get divorced. Or, some of the problems will come up before so you can work them all out before you get married.

  20. Cohabiting Couple: Edge Lee: I think living together gives you that edge on people who don’t live together before marriage, because you know what it is going to be like. You can make it last longer … you know how to deal with problems of married life, at least that is what I think about it.

  21. Married Couple: Roles Damion: Cohabitation prepared them for marriage becauseit showed who’s gonna be the one paying the bills, who’s gonna be the one doing that kind of stuff. That was a big thing. I guess, setting up roles. Like I would do the yard work, we both do the housework, she pays all the bills. Jen: Umm, it just helped me see what being married to him would be like. That he doesn’t clean, he doesn’t really cook, and that I had to be okay with that. Umm, how he spent his money or how he doesn’t spend his money, or how he doesn’t check the mail, how he doesn’t pay the bills and that I have to do that.

  22. Married Couple: Divorce Leah: At least you know how he’s gonna be around you, instead of getting married and then living together for the first time. I think people would get more divorced because they don’t know how that person acts. --------------------------------------------- Denise: I think maybe you’ll have more of a chance of getting divorced if you don’t live with somebody first, just ‘cause then you don’t know what to expect. Marriage is, harder than I thought it would be sometimes. Marriage is a lot of work, but anything is, I guess.

  23. Married Couple: Divorce Maria. 1st interview: “It’s not a big deal to me anymore because I’m already his wife you know. …Nothing is going to change.” 2nd interview: “The biggest mistake was thinking that nothing was going to change, I didn’t know my feelings about it would change …I had commitment before, and I have commitment now, but now it’s a wife commitment”

  24. Recent Reports Living together prior to marriage may help prevent divorce • National (15-44: 2008-2010) • 68% Men 58% Women Agree or Strongly Agree • Young Adults (18-24: 2006) 60% Agree or Strongly Agree

  25. Prior Studies Findings Complications Explanations

  26. Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution • Positive association between cohabitation and marital dissolution • Newcomb and Bentler (1980) • Newcomb (1986) • Bennet, Blanc and Bloom (1988) -- Sweden • Teachman and Polonko (1990) • DeMaris and Rao (1992) • Schoen (1992) • DeMaris and McDonald (1993) • Lillard, Brien, and Waite (1995) • Woods and Emery (2002) • Teachman (2002) • Teachman (2003) • Kamp Dush, Cohen and Amato (2003) • Phillips and Sweeney (2005) • Brown, Sanchez, Nock, and Wright (2006) • Stanley,Rhoades, Amato, Markman, and Johnson (2010) • Rheinhold (2010) • Jose, O’Leary, and Moyer (2010) -– Meta-analysis

  27. Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution • Positive association between cohabitation and marital dissolution • Selection Hypothesis • Cohabitation Experience Hypothesis • Inertia Hypothesis • Diffusion Hypothesis

  28. Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution • Complications: • Marriage Cohort • Engagement • Race/Ethnicity • Sexual History • Serial Cohabitation

  29. Quantitative Analysis What is the relationship between cohabitation and marital dissolution? • Engagement/Definite Plans for Marriage • Marriage Cohort

  30. Data • 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth • 7,356 women ages 15-44 • 6,139 men ages 15-44 • Analytic sample • 2,003 ever-married women since 1996 • 1,483 ever-married men since 1996 • Dependent Variable • Timing to divorce or separation of first marriage • Focal Independent Variable • Cohabitation experience w/ spouse

  31. Data • Race/Ethnicity and Nativity Status • Number of premarital non-cohabiting sex partners • Time at Marriage • Children Prior Marriage • Education (Interview date) • Age at Marriage • Background Family Characteristics • Lived with biological parents • Mother’s education

  32. Cohabitation Experience byMarriage Cohort

  33. Cumulative Probability Marital Dissolution: Women

  34. Premarital Cohabitation and Marriage Cohort: Women

  35. Cumulative Probability Marital Dissolution: Men

  36. Premarital Cohabitation and Marriage Cohort: Men

  37. Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution (WOMEN)

  38. Premarital Cohabitation, Engagement Status & Premarital Birth( Women > 1996 Marriage Cohort)

  39. Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution (MEN)

  40. Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution (WOMEN & MEN)

  41. Discussion “It seems clear from the data that the impact of premarital cohabitation on a subsequent marriage is not a simple or direct relationship, but rather is multifaceted.” - Newcomb and Bentler (1980, pg. 23)

  42. Marriage Cohort Earlier marriage cohort Cohabitation is tied to greater instability regardless of engagement status Later marriage cohort Cohabitation is NOT tied to heightened marital dissolution Diffusion Perspective

  43. Commitment at the start of cohabitation • Engagement/definite marriage plans Half of adults who cohabited prior to a recent marriage made a commitment to marriage when they started living together Engagement status depends on premarital fertility • No Births  No cohabitation effect • Births  Engaged protective effect

  44. Subgroup differentials: “one size does not fit all” Reframe: Relationship experiences: ‘premarital divorce’ Variation among respondents who never cohabit Challenge our understanding of cohabitation and marriage dissolution Meaning of cohabitation and its role in marriage process

  45. Thank you!Check out updates:National Center for Family and Marriage Researchhttp://ncfmr.bgsu.edu/Comments & Queries:wmannin@bgsu.edu

More Related