Cohabitation and Divorce in Canada: Testing the Selectivity Hypothesis

Hall, David; Zhao, John

doi:10.2307/353695

Cited by 74 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In the case of prior cohabitation, it has been argued that, when cohabitation is rare, those who cohabitate before marrying are already a select group characterised by unconventional values and a lesser degree of commitment to marriage than those who marry without cohabitating first (Hall and Zhao 1995). In other words, the decision to cohabit prior to marriage is driven by certain values that are unobservable or difficult to observe, and which also make subsequent divorce more likely.…”

Section: Unconventional Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes over time in the effects of the determinants of divorce have traditionally been investigated as birth or marriage cohort effects (Diekmann and Engelhardt 1999;De Graaf and Kalmijn 2006;Lyngstad 2006;Hall and Zhao 1995;Härkönen and Dronkers 2006;Vignoli and Ferro 2009). However, in the case of Spain, the ban on divorce was not lifted until 1981.…”

Section: Cohort or Period Effects?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Divorce risk factors and their variation over time in Spain

Bernardi

Martínez‐Pastor

2011

DemRes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Unconventional Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cohort or Period Effects?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Divorce risk factors and their variation over time in Spain

Bernardi

Martínez‐Pastor

2011

DemRes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Axinn and Thornton (1992), Bumpass, Sweet, and Cherlin (1991), DeMaris and Rao (1992), Schoen (1992), Teachman and Polonko (1990), Teachman, Thomas, and Paasch (1991), and Thomson and Colella (1992) observed the disruptive effect of premarital cohabitation in the US. Balakrishnan et al (1987), Hall and Zhao (1995), and Trussell, Rao, and White (1989) found the same in Canada, Bracher et al (1993) in Australia, Manting (1992) and Klijzing (1992) in the Netherlands, Berrington and Diamond (1999) and Haskey (1992) in Britain, and Kiernan (2002a) and Liefbroer and Dourleijn (2006) in a number of European countries. Indeed, premarital cohabitation is also associated with lower marital satisfaction (Brown and Booth 1996), higher rates of wife infidelity (Forste and Tanfer 1996), and lower commitment to the partnership .…”

Section: Premarital Cohabitation and Divorcementioning

confidence: 96%

Premarital cohabitation and divorce: Support for the "Trial Marriage" Theory?

Kulu¹,

Boyle²

2010

DemRes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…They find that the deinstitutionalisation of marriage and unconventional family practices are associated with a negative educational gradient of divorce, while welfare state expenditure is associated with a more positive gradient. In Canada, Hall and Zhao (1995) find a positive educational gradient: Holders of postsecondary degrees face over 90% higher odds of divorce than high school graduates or those who do not graduate from high school. Their analysis focuses on the effect of premarital cohabitation and divorce.…”

Section: Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From our perspective, the most relevant results are that the hazard of separation increases over the years and is lower in Quebec than in the rest of Canada. More interestingly, Hall and Zhao (1995) test the 'selectivity hypothesis,' according to which cohabitation is more prone to breakdown because cohabitors have some characteristics that make them different from those who choose marriage. Their results show that cohabitation is associated with a greater risk of divorce even after controlling the effects of four sociodemographic factors that differentiate cohabitors from married people.…”

Section: Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A matter of norms: Family background, religion, and generational change in the diffusion of first union breakdown among French-speaking Quebeckers

Laplante¹

2016

DemRes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUNDPrevious research conducted in societies where unmarried cohabitation remains limited suggests that having grown up with unmarried parents fosters marital instability. There is little research on this relationship in societies where unmarried cohabitation has become common. OBJECTIVEWe take advantage of the concurrent diffusion of unmarried cohabitation and union breakdown among French-speaking Quebeckers to examine whether family background (having grown up with unmarried parents and parental separation) and religion (reporting a denomination and religious attendance) have been key factors (intermediate variables) in the diffusion of conjugal instability or have been different consequences of a process of normative change unfolding across cohorts. METHODSWe use a subsample of 2,265 first unions from the 2011 Canadian General Social Survey. We estimate the hazard function and the effects of the independent variables on the hazard of breakdown using Royston-Parmar flexible hazards models. RESULTSResults show that having grown up with unmarried parents has no effect on the hazard of breakdown despite the increasing proportion of respondents having lived in this form of family, whereas religious attendance does have an effect despite its decreasing importance. Parental separation increases the hazard of marital disruption for men but not for women. CONTRIBUTIONAmong French-speaking Quebeckers, the diffusion of unmarried cohabitation and of union breakdown seem to be two aspects of a profound shift in norms regarding family life rather than being related to each other in a direct causal way.1 Centre Urbanisation Culture Société, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Université du Québec, Canada. E-Mail: benoit.laplante@ucs.inrs.ca.Laplante: Family background, religion, and generational change in the diffusion of first union breakdown 784http://www.demographic-research.org Context and objectivesThe transformations that occurred in family life among French-speaking Quebeckers over the last decades, and especially the concurrent diffusion of unmarried cohabitation and union breakdown, provide a unique setting for the study of the relation between some aspects of normative and behavioural change in family life. Union breakdown was still relatively uncommon among the people born between 1931 and 1940: Only 20% of their first union ended in breakdown after 30 years. However, more than half of first unions broke down after fewer than 20 years among the people born between 1971 and 1980. This change did not occur alone. Whereas marriage was the normal onset of conjugal life for almost all individuals born between 1931 and 1940, more than 90% of those born between 1971 and 1980 started their conjugal life with unmarried cohabitation, most of them not having married their partner before the breakdown of the union or the time of the survey. These changes occurred as religious affiliation decreased and religious attendance plummeted. From one cohort to the next, the proportion of children who grew ...

show abstract

Cohabitation and Divorce in Canada: Testing the Selectivity Hypothesis

Cited by 74 publications

References 22 publications

Divorce risk factors and their variation over time in Spain

Divorce risk factors and their variation over time in Spain

Premarital cohabitation and divorce: Support for the "Trial Marriage" Theory?

A matter of norms: Family background, religion, and generational change in the diffusion of first union breakdown among French-speaking Quebeckers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About