Living in precarious partnerships: understanding how young men’s and women’s economic precariousness contribute to the outcomes of the first cohabitation

Abstract

In the UK, cohabitation has become the normative type of first co-residential partnership. Whilst some go on to marry, couples increasingly continue to cohabit, or break up. One possible explanation is the rise in young people's economic precariousness. However, few studies have analysed this hypothesis empirically for the UK. Analysing data on cohabiting couple-dyads from 1991 to 2019, we explored how economic precariousness (as measured by four traits: employment, labour income, savings and financial perceptions) related to marriage and cohabitation dissolution. The types of the couples' precarious traits, alongside their distribution between partners, were crucial for understanding socioeconomic differences in cohabitation outcomes. Marriage was less likely among couples where the man was jobless or had no savings, suggesting that marriage is a financially committed relationship, more reliant on men’s resources. Couples where women held worse financial perceptions than men were most likely to separate, highlighting the importance of subjective measures.

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ORCID for Ann Berrington: orcid.org/0000-0002-1683-6668

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