A partir de una explotación de los datos de la Encuesta Sociodemográfica de 1991, se presentan los resultados principales de una investigación en curso sobre los determinantes sociodemográficos del divorcio en España. Se tratará de explicar la propensión a la ruptura de una primera unión, configurada como variable dependiente, en función de un conjunto de covariables que harán referencia a características de la familia de origen, a características individuales y, por último, a las características de la unión. Se medirá el efecto de estas covariables sobre la probabilidad de la experiencia de una persona en la disolución de su primera unión, con el objetivo de realizar una primera aproximación al perfil sociodemográfico de la separación y el divorcio en España. El análisis realizado utiliza un modelo de azar de regresión logística discreto.

The first part of the paper will outline the 'second demographic transition' in Western Europe. The second part deals with the effects of the second demographic transition on household composition, especially with the increase of cohabiting couples, single parent families, one-person households and step families. While the position of women is of central importance to theories of the second demographic transition, the changing nature of gender relations has tended to be neglected. The final section considers this factor more explicitly, using the example of Catalonia (Spain) to show how cultural factors (which will vary nationally and regionally) are crucial in the social construction of gender identities.

This article describes the main features of the dynamics of demographic change in the population of Spain during the twentieth century, emphasizing the most recent developments: population ageing, the establishment of a very low fertility regime and the increasing importance of foreign immigration as well as the impact which all these have on the composition of households. Those aspects most directly related to the provision of health and social services is discussed, such as the impact of increased life expectancy on the incidence of illness and handicap in the population, the role of foreign immigration in providing personal services within the family and the health implications of the new model of delayed fertility. Finally, the health implications of population projections for the next 50 years are discussed.

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