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The Rise in Divorce and Cohabitation: Is There a Link?

The Rise in Divorce and Cohabitation: Is There a Link?
The Rise in Divorce and Cohabitation: Is There a Link?
Over the past decades, divorce and cohabitation have increased dramatically throughout Europe. Divorce has fundamentally altered the institution of marriage from a life-long union to one that may dissolve. Cohabitation allows couples to live together without undertaking the vows of marriage, but also allows couples to avoid the potentially higher costs of divorce. Thus, divorce and cohabitation seem to be intrinsically linked. Here we theorize how the increase in divorce may be linked to the increase in cohabitation on the macro-, meso-, and micro- levels. Using focus group data from 8 countries, we explore how divorce may have changed attitudes and beliefs concerning marriage and cohabitation. We then investigate whether survey data and official statistics in 16 countries provide evidence consistent with a link. While exogenous factors have been important for the increase in cohabitation, we argue that the divorce revolution has been a catalyst for the cohabitation boom.
0098-7921
303-329
Perelli-Harris, Brienna
9d3d6b25-d710-480b-8677-534d58ebe9ed
Berrington, Ann
bd0fc093-310d-4236-8126-ca0c7eb9ddde
Sanchez Gassen, Nora
ac0ff73a-9168-4d5f-b718-36cc931b6ed6
Galezewska, Paulina
a4dd4b21-ef84-4261-b783-e8b919efdd78
Holland, Jennifer
41865235-7e0e-4674-ac1f-9569e6a0ff9b
Perelli-Harris, Brienna
9d3d6b25-d710-480b-8677-534d58ebe9ed
Berrington, Ann
bd0fc093-310d-4236-8126-ca0c7eb9ddde
Sanchez Gassen, Nora
ac0ff73a-9168-4d5f-b718-36cc931b6ed6
Galezewska, Paulina
a4dd4b21-ef84-4261-b783-e8b919efdd78
Holland, Jennifer
41865235-7e0e-4674-ac1f-9569e6a0ff9b

Perelli-Harris, Brienna, Berrington, Ann and Sanchez Gassen, Nora et al. (2017) The Rise in Divorce and Cohabitation: Is There a Link? Population and Development Review, 43 (2), 303-329. (doi:10.1111/padr.12063).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Over the past decades, divorce and cohabitation have increased dramatically throughout Europe. Divorce has fundamentally altered the institution of marriage from a life-long union to one that may dissolve. Cohabitation allows couples to live together without undertaking the vows of marriage, but also allows couples to avoid the potentially higher costs of divorce. Thus, divorce and cohabitation seem to be intrinsically linked. Here we theorize how the increase in divorce may be linked to the increase in cohabitation on the macro-, meso-, and micro- levels. Using focus group data from 8 countries, we explore how divorce may have changed attitudes and beliefs concerning marriage and cohabitation. We then investigate whether survey data and official statistics in 16 countries provide evidence consistent with a link. While exogenous factors have been important for the increase in cohabitation, we argue that the divorce revolution has been a catalyst for the cohabitation boom.

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Accepted/In Press date: 22 January 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 June 2017
Published date: June 2017
Organisations: Social Statistics & Demography

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 405673
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/405673
ISSN: 0098-7921
PURE UUID: 3201eb88-7334-4acc-9340-6583327f1b8e
ORCID for Brienna Perelli-Harris: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8234-4007
ORCID for Ann Berrington: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1683-6668

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 09 Feb 2017 14:53
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:06

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Contributors

Author: Ann Berrington ORCID iD
Author: Nora Sanchez Gassen
Author: Paulina Galezewska
Author: Jennifer Holland

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