Currently cohabiting: Relationship attitudes and intentions

1. Currently cohabiting:Relationship attitudes and intentions Dr Ernestina Coast

2. Cohabitation • Fuzzy • Timing • Heterogeneous • Post-marriage (pre- and post-divorce) • Pre-marriage • Post widowhood • Evolving

3. Good large-scale descriptive data on incidence and trends • Representative attitudinal surveys • Empirical gap: cohabitees • emerging qualitative research • survey data relationship intentions and attitudes • longitudinal data – collected while subjective state exists • systematic empirical investigation of social change

4. British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) • Annual since 1991 • Approx. 5,000 households • Full interview with new partners

5. 1998: Wave 8 Relationship questions 2003: Wave 13 Relationship questions repeat 1992: Wave 2 Full marriage & cohabitation history Annual status updates Annual status updates Annual status updates 1991: Wave 1 2006 Wave 16

6. Relationship: attitudes intentions 1998 Couples = 398 2003 Couples = 333 ? Cohabitation converted to marriage? Cohabitation persisted? Cohabitation ceased? Child born?

7. Analysis Wave 13 (2003) Treat as cross-sectional Never-married aged under 35 Individuals and linked couples

9. Questions • “We are interested in why you and your partner have chosen to live together rather than being married. Do you think there are any advantages in living as a couple, rather than being married?” If “Yes” • “What do you think are the advantages of living as a couple?”

10. Questions • “Do you think there are any disadvantages in living as a couple, rather than being married?” If “Yes” • “What do you think are the disadvantages of living as a couple?”

11. Interview influence • BHPS reports presence of others during interview • Analysis shows no significant effect of other’s presence on responses.

12. Cohabitation an advantage over marriage • Men 32% • Women 35% • Parent 28% • Childless 37% • Sig p<0.05 for both men and women • Majority no positive advantage

13. Why an advantage?

14. Cohabitation a disadvantage over marriage • Men 18% • Women 22% • Parent 22% • Childless 20% • Majority no definite disadvantage

15. Why a disadvantage?

16. Comparing couples

17. Comparing couples

18. Question: Future intentions • “Obviously you cannot say for certain what will happen, but could you please look at this card and read out the number of the statement which you feel applies most closely to your current relationship?

19. Showcard • 1 Planning to marry • 2 Probably get married at some point • 3 Probably just keep living together without marrying • 4 Have not really thought about the future • 5 Other (specify) • 6 Don’t know

20. Marriage expectations

21. Marriage expectations: couples

22. Marriage expectations: women

23. Supplementary Question • “Even though you have no plans to marry at the moment, can you please look at this card and tell me how likely it is that you will ever get married to anyone in the future?”

24. Showcard • 1 Very likely • 2 Likely • 3 Unlikely • 4 Very unlikely • 5 Don’t know

25. Marriage expectations: women

26. Interrogating the questions • Grounded in reality • Take account of circumstances rather than an expression of abstract desire • Supplementary question on marriage expectation moves from current relationship to any future hypothetical relationship

27. Interrogating the answers • Intentions uncertain and subject to change • Question understanding • Companionship response • Childless mention children

28. Future directions • Cohabitation • Which couples achieve their relationship intentions? • How persistent are relationship intentions? • Non-resident partnerships