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Cohabitation and children's living arrangements

Author

Listed:
  • Sheela Kennedy

    (University of Michigan)

  • Larry L. Bumpass

    (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

Abstract

This paper uses the 1995 and 2002 waves of the National Survey of Family Growth to examine recent trends in cohabitation in the United States. We find increases in both the prevalence and duration of unmarried cohabitation. Cohabitation continues to transform children’s family lives, as children are increasingly likely to be born to a cohabiting mother (18% during 1997-2001) or to experience their mother’s entry into a cohabiting union. Consequently, we estimate that two-fifths of all children spend some time in a cohabiting family by age 12. Because of substantial missing data in the 2002 NSFG, we are unable to produce new estimates of divorce and children’s time in single-parent families. Nonetheless, our results point to the steady growth of cohabitation and to the evolving role of cohabitation in U.S. family life.

Suggested Citation

  • Sheela Kennedy & Larry L. Bumpass, 2008. "Cohabitation and children's living arrangements," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 19(47), pages 1663-1692.
  • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:19:y:2008:i:47
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2008.19.47
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Steffen Reinhold, 2010. "Reassessing the link between premarital cohabitation and marital instability," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(3), pages 719-733, August.
    2. Helske, Satu & Steele, Fiona & Kokko, Katja & Räikkönen, Eija & Eerola, Mervi, 2015. "Partnership formation and dissolution over the life course: applying sequence analysis and event history analysis in the study of recurrent events," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62244, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Sebastian Franke & Hill Kulu, 2018. "Mortality Differences by Partnership Status in England and Wales: The Effect of Living Arrangements or Health Selection?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 87-118, February.
    4. Darcy A. Thompson & Andrea M. Jimenez-Zambrano & Haley Ringwood & Jeanne M. Tschann & Lauren Clark, 2023. "Parenting a Toddler in the Era of Pervasive Screens: Interviews with Low-Income Mexican American Parents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-16, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cohabitation; family dynamics; children; family structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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