IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v13y1997i3d10.1023_a1005943724645.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wanting a Child Without a Firm Commitment to the Partner: Interpretations and Implications of a Common Behaviour Pattern among Norwegian Cohabitants

Author

Listed:
  • øystein Kravdal

    (University of Oslo)

Abstract

Further knowledge of combined birth and marriage intentions among cohabiting couples will improve our understanding of the nature of consensual unions and be important from a policy perspective. According to Norwegian surveys from 1988 and 1996, about 1/3 of the births to cohabiting couples are mistimed. Among the remainder, between 1/2 and 3/4 are to couples who at least have no intention to marry within the next couple of years. The most radical estimate, based on the most recent survey, is that there are three equally large categories of births to cohabiting couples: mistimed births, intended births to couples planning marriage, and intended births to couples with no marriage plans whatever. The 1996 survey also revealed that a clear majority of these couples who appear to want a child without planning marriage, explain this attitude partly by the less easy dissolution of a marriage. In other words, their consensual union is indeed considered different from marriage in terms of commitment and stability and they may have concerns about the quality of the relationship. There were weak indications that cohabitants with an intended birth in the absence of marriage plans were less likely than others to consider a parental break-up to be very deleterious for the child.

Suggested Citation

  • øystein Kravdal, 1997. "Wanting a Child Without a Firm Commitment to the Partner: Interpretations and Implications of a Common Behaviour Pattern among Norwegian Cohabitants," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 269-298, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:13:y:1997:i:3:d:10.1023_a:1005943724645
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1005943724645
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1023/A:1005943724645
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/A:1005943724645?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Larry Bumpass, 1990. "What’s happening to the family? Interactions between demographic and institutional change," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 27(4), pages 483-498, November.
    2. Andrew Cherlin & Kathleen Kiernan & P. Chase-Lansdale, 1995. "Parental divorce in childhood and demographic outcomes in young adulthood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(3), pages 299-318, August.
    3. Herbert Smith & S. Morgan & Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox, 1996. "A decomposition of trends in the nonmarital fertility ratios of blacks and whites in the united states, 1960–1992," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 33(2), pages 141-151, May.
    4. William Axinn & Arland Thornton, 1992. "The relationship between cohabitation and divorce: Selectivity or causal influence?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 29(3), pages 357-374, August.
    5. Lee Lillard & Michael Brien & Linda Waite, 1995. "Premarital cohabitation and subsequent marital," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(3), pages 437-457, August.
    6. Jay Teachman & Jeffrey Thomas & Kathleen Paasch, 1991. "Legal Status and the Stability of Coresidential Unions," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(4), pages 571-586, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roberto Impicciatore & Francesco C. Billari, 2012. "Secularization, Union Formation Practices, and Marital Stability: Evidence from Italy [Sécularisation, Pratiques de Mise en Union et Stabilité des Mariages: Le Cas de l’Italie]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 119-138, May.
    2. Lawrence Wu & Kelly Musick, 2008. "Stability of Marital and Cohabiting Unions Following a First Birth," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 27(6), pages 713-727, December.
    3. Melinda Mills, 2004. "Stability and Change: The Structuration of Partnership Histories in Canada, the Netherlands, and the Russian Federation," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 20(2), pages 141-175, June.
    4. Laura Tach & Kathryn Edin, 2013. "The Compositional and Institutional Sources of Union Dissolution for Married and Unmarried Parents in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1789-1818, October.
    5. Martin Kreidl & Zuzana Žilinčíková, 2023. "Adult children’s union type and contact with mothers: A replication," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 48(23), pages 641-680.
    6. Todd D. Kendall & Robert Tamura, 2010. "Unmarried Fertility, Crime, and Social Stigma," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(1), pages 185-221, February.
    7. Brienna Perelli-Harris & Michaela R. Kreyenfeld & Wendy Sigle-Rushton & Renske Keizer & Trude Lappegård & Aiva Jasilioniene & Caroline Berghammer & Paola Di Giulio & Katja Köppen, 2009. "The increase in fertility in cohabitation across Europe: examining the intersection between union status and childbearing," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2009-021, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    8. Pau Baizán & Arnstein Aassve & Francesco C. Billari, 2003. "Cohabitation, Marriage, and First Birth: The Interrelationship of Family Formation Events in Spain," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 147-169, June.
    9. Marinescu, Ioana, 2016. "Divorce: What does learning have to do with it?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 90-105.
    10. Aart Liefbroer & Edith Dourleijn, 2006. "Unmarried cohabitation and union stability: Testing the role of diffusion using data from 16 European countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(2), pages 203-221, May.
    11. Bo Lu & Zhenchao Qian & Anna Cunningham & Chih-Lin Li, 2012. "Estimating the Effect of Premarital Cohabitation on Timing of Marital Disruption," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 41(3), pages 440-466, August.
    12. Nicoletta Balbo & Nicola Barban & Melinda Mills, 2013. "Friend and peer effects on entry into marriage and parenthood: A multiprocess approach," Working Papers 056, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    13. Audrey Light & Yoshiaki Omori, 2013. "Determinants of Long-Term Unions: Who Survives the “Seven Year Itch”?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(6), pages 851-891, December.
    14. Magdalena M. Muszynska, 2006. "Woman’s employment and union disruption in a changing socio-economic context: the case of Russia," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-027, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    15. Christine Schnor, 2015. "Does waiting pay off for couples? Partnership duration prior to household formation and union stability," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(22), pages 611-652.
    16. Christine Schnor, 2013. "Does waiting pay off? The effect of partnership duration prior to household formation on union stability," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2013-016, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    17. Daniele Vignoli & Irene Ferro, 2009. "Rising marital disruption in Italy and its correlates," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 20(4), pages 11-36.
    18. Paul J. Boyle & Hill Kulu, 2006. "Does cohabitation prior to marriage raise the risk of marital dissolution and does this effect vary geographically?," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-051, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    19. Jeofrey Abalos, 2017. "Divorce and separation in the Philippines: Trends and correlates," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(50), pages 1515-1548.
    20. David Pelletier, 2016. "The diffusion of cohabitation and children’s risks of family dissolution in Canada," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(45), pages 1317-1342.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:13:y:1997:i:3:d:10.1023_a:1005943724645. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.