Search results

The focus of this dissertation is on the - so far hesitant - spread of non-marital cohabitation in Italy. The combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods offers insights into the effects of individual and family characteristics as well as the subjective motivations behind and perceptions on cohabitation.

The rising number of people "just living together", people who are neither married nor in registered partnerships, clearly demonstrates that non-marital unions can no longer be ignored. To obtain an accurate picture of the situation of non-marital partners it was essential to conduct comparative research of multiple legal orders. This analysis threw a new light (at least from the Polish standpoint) on possible solutions to the problem of the regulation of legal aspects of "living together". It appears that three different legal attitudes towards non-marital cohabitation may be distinguished in Europe. Firstly, there are legal orders in which by virtue of an explicit reference by the legislator – the regulations on marriage are applied to cohabitation (quasi-marriage cohabitation). Secondly, there also exist countries in which a law was adopted regulating selected aspects of actual cohabitation (implied model of cohabitation). And thirdly, there are legal orders in which any cohabitant-oriented legal regime exists.

The rising number of people "just living together", people who are neither married nor in registered partnerships, clearly demonstrates that non-marital unions can no longer be ignored. To obtain an accurate picture of the situation of non-marital partners it was essential to conduct comparative research of multiple legal orders. This analysis threw a new light (at least from the Polish standpoint) on possible solutions to the problem of the regulation of legal aspects of "living together". It appears that three different legal attitudes towards non-marital cohabitation may be distinguished in Europe. Firstly, there are legal orders in which by virtue of an explicit reference by the legislator – the regulations on marriage are applied to cohabitation (quasi-marriage cohabitation). Secondly, there also exist countries in which a law was adopted regulating selected aspects of actual cohabitation (implied model of cohabitation). And thirdly, there are legal orders in which any cohabitant-oriented legal regime exists.

Norms and sanctions regulating the sexual behavior of the unmarned have changed in many societies in recent decades, such that significant numbers of the population, especially although not exclusively among the young, live together openly as unmarried partners. A transition period, characterized by high rates of premantal pregnancies, lasted longer in Norway than in neighbonng countries. Below it is suggested that the source of the delay may be found in a cleavage in Norway's social structure. In some regions of the country a pietistic attitude dominated, in others a liberal attitude. This was a major axis of Norwegian politics from the end of the nineteenth century until well into the twentieth. Acts of Parliament swung from severe punishment of 'concubinage', as it was called, to remarkably early laws providing public support when needed for unwed mothers and their children. Punitive sanctions against illegitimacy were enforced only for a brief period, although the law remained on the statute books until the 1970s. The signals sent to the population were sufficiently mixed as to create a condition of pluralistic ignorance, inducing more conformity to strict sexual behavior than occurred elsewhere. The most recent investigations provide convincing evidence to support the contention that non-marital cohabitation has now become a civil status accepted by all.

Today, almost half of all children are born outside marriage, with cohabiting relationships accounting for the majority of such births. But what was the situation in earlier centuries? Bringing together leading historians, demographers and lawyers, this interdisciplinary collection examines the changing context of non-marital child-bearing in England and Wales since 1600. Drawing on Private Acts of Parliament, ecclesiastical court records, reported cases, sessions files, coronial records, poor law records, petitions to the London Foundling Hospital, the registers of the London Bridewell, the records of charitable institutions, surveys and modern demographic data, it not only shows the relative rarity of cohabitation in earlier periods but also discovers the nature of individual relationships. It also explores how differences in the extent of both non-marital child-bearing and cohabitation emerge depending on definition, source material, interpretation and location, building up a more nuanced picture of past practices.

Using data from the 2018 Chinese Family Panel Studies, this study examines the associations between premarital cohabitation, marital satisfaction, and the probability of a subsequent divorce and captures the gradated variations of marital quality by incorporating divorce and self-rated marital satisfaction into a generic measure of marital quality. Findings show positive associations between cohabitation and divorce and negative associations between cohabitation and marital quality. Results further show that the negative association between cohabitation and marital quality is weakened by better education, higher income, and rural origin, and stronger among men. The consistent negative associations between cohabitation and all the marital quality outcomes indicate the persistent strength of the norm of universal marriage, based on which cohabitation is still considered substantively distinct from marriage both in terms of legal status and social recognition. The diverse social gradients of the cohabitation-marital quality links reflect the heterogeneous social meanings of cohabitation in contemporary China.

Today, cohabiting relationships account for most births outside marriage. But what was the situation in earlier centuries? Bringing together leading historians, demographers and lawyers, this interdisciplinary collection draws on a wide range of sources to examine the changing context of non-marital child-bearing in England and Wales since 1600

Four models of the way in which premarital cohabitation may affect marital quality are examined using interview data from a national probability sample of married persons. The idea that cohabitation improves mate selection and marital training is rejected. Cohabitation is negatively related to marital interaction and positively related to marital disagreement, proneness to divorce, and the probability of divorce in nonminority populations. No evidence is found that the accelerated marriage model explains these findings. Some support is found for the explanation that some of those who cohabit are poor marriage risks before they marry. No support is found for the idea that cohabitation itself causes a decline in marital quality, but this argument cannot be rejected with confidence, given the data at hand.

Italy has long been regarded as the country with negligible non-marital cohabitation par excellence, but lately the pattern has begun to change and entry into consensual unions has increased strongly in younger Italian generations. This article is devoted to a study of such features between 1980 and 2003 based on the data from the Italian variant of the Gender and Generations Survey, Round 1. We consider entry into marriage and entry into cohabitation as competing risks and show how the incidence of cohabitation consistently much lower but has increased by some 70% over the 20-odd years of our study, while the marriage rate has dropped by almost as much. We find great variation across major regions of the country. The rise in cohabitation is confined to Northern and Central Italy, while the risk of marriage formation has declined strongly all over the country. Unlike previous investigations, our data suggest that non-marital cohabitation may be taking over whatever minor role civil marriage has had in Italian union formation.

Using Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), this article documents the extent to which cohabitors begin their union with intentions to marry (indicated by either being engaged or having definite plans to marry) and how this is related to subsequent cohabitation transitions, building on earlier literature examining expectations. Almost half of all first cohabitations begin with intentions to marry, and having marital intentions increases the likelihood of marriage and decreases the odds of dissolution. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to report having marital intentions but less likely to transition to marriage. Prior family experiences also influence having marital intentions and the outcome of the cohabiting union, with significant differences by gender. Results suggest that although many individuals believe their cohabitation is part of the marriage process, gender and race/ethnicity play an important role in whether plans to marry will be realized.

Surprisingly, nearly one third of all nonmarital births in the United States are to formerly married mothers. The author uses data from the National Survey of Families and Households to investigate the level and timing of such births as well as their determinants. Discrete time-event history analyses are used to evaluate the associations between various life course factors and postmarital childbearing. The present study improves on prior research by examining the role of postmarital cohabitation experience in fertility following marital dissolution. Postmarital cohabitation experience more than doubles the odds of having a postmarital birth. In fact, about 20% of postmarital births occur to cohabiting mothers.