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Reassessing the Link between Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Instability

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  • Steffen Reinhold, Ph.D.

    (Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA))

Abstract

It has been found that premarital cohabitation is positively correlated with the likelihood of marital dissolution in the U.S. To reassess this link, I estimate proportional hazard models of marital dissolution for first marriages using pooled data from three surveys of the NSFG 1988, 1995, and 2002 and demonstrate that the positive relationship between premarital cohabitation and marital instability has weakened for more recent birth and marriage cohorts. Using multiple marital outcomes for a person to account for one source of unobserved heterogeneity, panel models suggest that cohabitation is not selective of individuals with higher risk of marital dissolution and may be a stabilizing factor for higher parity marriages.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen Reinhold, Ph.D., 2009. "Reassessing the Link between Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Instability," MEA discussion paper series 09178, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:mea:meawpa:09178
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    Cited by:

    1. Marion Leturcq, 2011. "Competing marital contracts? The marriage after civil union in France," Working Papers halshs-00655585, HAL.
    2. Leslie S. Stratton, 2023. "Marriage Versus Cohabitation: How Specialization and Time Use Differ by Relationship Type," Research in Labor Economics, in: Time Use in Economics, volume 51, pages 187-218, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    3. Peter Fallesen & Richard Breen, 2016. "Temporary Life Changes and the Timing of Divorce," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1377-1398, October.
    4. Marion Leturcq, 2009. "Would you civil union me? Civil unions and taxes in France: Did the reform of income taxation raise the rate of civil unions?," PSE Working Papers halshs-00566846, HAL.
    5. Leturcq, Marion, 2012. "Will you civil union me? Taxation and civil unions in France," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(5), pages 541-552.
    6. 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.
    7. Marinescu, Ioana, 2016. "Divorce: What does learning have to do with it?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 90-105.
    8. Wolfgang Frimmel & Martin Halla & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2013. "Assortative mating and divorce: evidence from Austrian register data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(4), pages 907-929, October.
    9. Arun S. Hendi, 2019. "Proximate Sources of Change in Trajectories of First Marriage in the United States, 1960–2010," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(3), pages 835-862, June.
    10. Fabio Blasutto, 2024. "Cohabitation vs. Marriage: Mating Strategies by Education in The USA," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(4), pages 1723-1761.
    11. Kelly Musick & Katherine Michelmore, 2015. "Change in the Stability of Marital and Cohabiting Unions Following the Birth of a Child," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(5), pages 1463-1485, October.
    12. Maria Winkler-Dworak & Eva Beaujouan & Paola Di Giulio & Martin Spielauer, 2019. "Simulating Family Life Courses: An Application for Italy, Great Britain, and Scandinavia," VID Working Papers 1908, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    13. Robert Nakosteen & Michael Zimmer, 2017. "Marriage dissolution among American men, 2003–2010: The roles of measured earnings and latent selection," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1348327-134, January.
    14. Christine Schnor, 2014. "The Effect of Union Status at First Childbirth on Union Stability: Evidence from Eastern and Western Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(2), pages 129-160, May.
    15. Amy Farmer & Andrew Horowitz, 2015. "Strategic non-marital cohabitation: theory and empirical implications," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 219-237, January.
    16. Kate Choi & Rachel Goldberg & Patrick Denice, 2022. "Stability and outcome of interracial cohabitation before and after transitions to marriage," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(33), pages 957-1006.
    17. Wendy D. Manning, 2020. "Young Adulthood Relationships in an Era of Uncertainty: A Case for Cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(3), pages 799-819, June.
    18. Megan Sweeney & Teresa Castro Martín & Melinda Mills, 2015. "The reproductive context of cohabitation in comparative perspective," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(5), pages 147-182.
    19. Anna Barbuscia & Maria Sironi, 2023. "Do couples who use fertility treatments divorce more? Evidence from the US National Survey of Family Growth," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 49(23), pages 601-634.
    20. Brienna Perelli-Harris & Mark Amos, 2015. "Changes in partnership patterns across the life course," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(6), pages 145-178.
    21. Monika Mynarska & Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Anna Matysiak, 2014. "Free to stay, free to leave: Insights from Poland into the meaning of cohabitation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(36), pages 1107-1136.
    22. Maria Winkler-Dworak & Eva Beaujouan & Paola Di Giulio & Martin Spielauer, 2021. "Simulating family life courses: An application for Italy, Great Britain, Norway, and Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(1), pages 1-48.
    23. Jennifer A. Holland, 2013. "Love, marriage, then the baby carriage? Marriage timing and childbearing in Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(11), pages 275-306.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cohabitation; Marriage; Marital Stability; Self-selection; Duration Models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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