Joint lifestyles and the risk of union dissolution: Differences between marriage and cohabitation

Abstract

BACKGROUND Love, intimacy, and companionship are considered the cement of contemporary couple relationships. Yet previous research studying how the way that couples arrange their social life and leisure time relates to the stability of their union has focused exclusively on married couples. OBJECTIVE This study examines the extent to which married and cohabiting couples have joint lifestyles and how this relates to their risk of union dissolution, and explores heterogeneity within these groups. In this way, it provides insight into how couples in these different types of unions arrange their lives jointly and what keeps them together. METHODS We apply multilevel panel models and Cox event history models using four waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (N = 4,255). RESULTS Cohabiters have more separate lifestyles than married couples, in particular when it comes to joint friendships and social visits, while marital intentions or prior cohabitation makes no difference. Joint lifestyles are-for marriage and cohabitationnegatively related to the risk of union dissolution. CONCLUSIONS Companionship-that is, a joint lifestyle-seems to have an important role in couple relationships. Although the marital vow still divides couples in how they arrange their lives together, joint lifestyles seem to be equally important in keeping cohabiting and married couples together, suggesting that married and cohabiting couples do not differ in their social foundations.

Does union type make a difference when you separate? Frequency of father–child contact and father’s satisfaction with the relation

“…It is, however, not well-established whether and how separated (cohabiting) couples differ from the couples separating from marriage. Some research suggests, that previously cohabiting and married couples tend to differ in terms of the stated reasons for union dissolution, with married couples stating more often extreme reasons for dissolution, such as violence and infidelity (Lampard, 2014), at the same time it is worth noting that other research suggests that the drivers of dissolution are similar for marriage and cohabitation (van Houdt & Poortman, 2018).…”

Gender-Egalitarian Attitudes and Assortative Mating by Age and Education

“…Existing studies show that, at the individual level, gender-egalitarian attitudes are negatively associated with dissolution rates and positively associated with fertility (Aassve et al, 2015 ; Goldscheider et al, 2015 ; Kaufman, 2000 ). Another aspect that is often mentioned in relation to couples’ stability and fertility is the level of dissimilarity and similarity of partners’ socio-demographic characteristics (Burgess & Wallin, 1943 ; Hart, 2019 ; Van Houdt & Poortman, 2018 ; Voas, 2003 ). In the past, educationally hypogamous couples, i.e.…”

Like brother, like sister? Disentangling the intertwined associations between siblings’ life course trajectories

“…Research has indicated that cohabiting and married individuals differ in terms of life stage, maturity level, and autonomy needs. Compared to the married, cohabitors are more tentative about their relationship and have more non-traditional and permissive traits, lower level of relationship stability, and higher desire for independence and freedom (Hiekel et al, 2014;Kreidl & Žilinčíková, 2021;Pelikh et al, 2022;Perelli-Harris et al, 2014;Van Houdt & Poortman, 2018). Second, cohabiting couples have more egalitarian values, gender roles, and division of labor compared to married couples (Clarkberg et al, 1995;Domínguez-Folgueras, 2013;Lesthaeghe, 2010).…”