The changing inter-relationship between partnership dynamics and fertility trends in Europe and the United States: a review
The changing inter-relationship between partnership dynamics and fertility trends in Europe and the United States: a review
Objective: this review systemizes the literature across Europe and the United States studying the intersection between partnership and fertility, providing a roadmap accessible across disciplines. We categorize the pathways through which partnerships and childbearing are linked according to different partnership dimensions – type, timing, duration, order, dissolution – and investigate key factors that influence these pathways (i.e., macro context, migration status, race/ethnicity).
Results: we find that marriage remains more predictive of childbearing than cohabitation, and longer-lasting partnerships formed earlier in the life course are reliably linked to higher fertility levels. As partnership trajectories continue to become more complex due to dissolution and re-partnering, recent research suggests that complexity will ultimately depress fertility, instead of increasing it. Country context shapes the relationship between partnering and fertility by influencing the costs and benefits of each, over time and space. Finally, because race/ethnicity and migrant status are key predictors in family behaviours and the partnership context for childbearing, we also found variation by race, ethnicity, and migrant status in the intersection of partnership and fertility, which can persist across migrant generations.
Contribution: our review demonstrates how every facet of partnership relates to fertility and emphasizes the importance of studying partnership as a multi-dimensional and dynamic concept. Partnership should be viewed as a sequence of transitions with varying meanings across subgroups, time, and the life course, instead of focusing on summary measures such as average ages of marriage and first birth.
179-228
Kuang, Bernice
0d9a40c9-11d3-463e-8b1a-ce0c9880485d
Berrington, Ann
bd0fc093-310d-4236-8126-ca0c7eb9ddde
Kulu, Hill
439546b3-673f-43b9-af83-ca81b7e65e51
Vasireddy, Sindhu
7e417737-8dd4-45ad-8d3d-bdc662a56738
28 January 2025
Kuang, Bernice
0d9a40c9-11d3-463e-8b1a-ce0c9880485d
Berrington, Ann
bd0fc093-310d-4236-8126-ca0c7eb9ddde
Kulu, Hill
439546b3-673f-43b9-af83-ca81b7e65e51
Vasireddy, Sindhu
7e417737-8dd4-45ad-8d3d-bdc662a56738
Kuang, Bernice, Berrington, Ann, Kulu, Hill and Vasireddy, Sindhu
(2025)
The changing inter-relationship between partnership dynamics and fertility trends in Europe and the United States: a review.
Demographic Research, 52 (7), .
(doi:10.4054/DemRes.2025.52.7).
Abstract
Objective: this review systemizes the literature across Europe and the United States studying the intersection between partnership and fertility, providing a roadmap accessible across disciplines. We categorize the pathways through which partnerships and childbearing are linked according to different partnership dimensions – type, timing, duration, order, dissolution – and investigate key factors that influence these pathways (i.e., macro context, migration status, race/ethnicity).
Results: we find that marriage remains more predictive of childbearing than cohabitation, and longer-lasting partnerships formed earlier in the life course are reliably linked to higher fertility levels. As partnership trajectories continue to become more complex due to dissolution and re-partnering, recent research suggests that complexity will ultimately depress fertility, instead of increasing it. Country context shapes the relationship between partnering and fertility by influencing the costs and benefits of each, over time and space. Finally, because race/ethnicity and migrant status are key predictors in family behaviours and the partnership context for childbearing, we also found variation by race, ethnicity, and migrant status in the intersection of partnership and fertility, which can persist across migrant generations.
Contribution: our review demonstrates how every facet of partnership relates to fertility and emphasizes the importance of studying partnership as a multi-dimensional and dynamic concept. Partnership should be viewed as a sequence of transitions with varying meanings across subgroups, time, and the life course, instead of focusing on summary measures such as average ages of marriage and first birth.
Text
Partnership Dynamics and Fertility Literature Review - PURE
- Accepted Manuscript
Text
52-7
- Version of Record
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e-pub ahead of print date: 28 January 2025
Published date: 28 January 2025
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 499553
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/499553
ISSN: 1435-9871
PURE UUID: c3e71a35-b47d-4077-bc0d-61b8c88b4ff1
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Date deposited: 25 Mar 2025 18:16
Last modified: 30 Aug 2025 02:04
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Author:
Bernice Kuang
Author:
Hill Kulu
Author:
Sindhu Vasireddy
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