Men’s economic status and marital transitions of fragile families

Sassler, Sharon; Roy, Soma; Stasny, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.4054/demres.2014.30.3

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Couples with at least four of these items were significantly more likely to marry or transition into marriage from cohabiting unions. Other studies suggest that marriage requires a specific income threshold (Michelmore, ; Sassler, Roy, & Stasny, ) or sufficient couple‐level financial resources (Ishizuka, ). Social welfare policies that provide job training, employment, or income supplements may also indirectly encourage marriage (Schneider & Hastings, ).…”

Section: Research Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One or both partners may have children from prior relationships and may consolidate their new union by having a baby, adding to an already complex family (Seltzer, ). Various studies from the Fragile Families dataset (https://fragilefamilies.Princeton.edu) have examined the consequences of multipartner fertility for union formation (Bzostek, McLanahan, & Carlson, ; Sassler et al, ). Further studies using data that are more representative of the broader (nonurban and nonminority) population, as well as in contexts other than the United States, are needed to better understand fatherhood and the financial and emotional connections between biological or social fathers and children.…”

Section: Research Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cohabitation and Marriage: Complexity and Diversity in Union‐Formation Patterns

Sassler

Lichter

2020

J of Marriage and Family

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Nonmarital cohabitation and marriage are now fundamentally linked, a fact that is routinely reflected in current research on union formation. Unprecedented changes in the timing, duration, and sequencing of intimate co‐residential relationships have made the study of traditional marriage far more complex today than in the past. It is now clear that a white, middle‐class, American‐centric research template has become increasingly anachronistic. In this review article, we begin by providing an overview of contemporary theory, empirical approaches, and demographic trends in cohabitation and marriage, focusing primarily on the United States, but also distinguishing the U.S. from patterns found in other high‐income societies, including European countries, Canada, Australia, and in East Asia. We place the spotlight on the causes and consequences of union transitions. We identify the commonalities between cohabitation and marriage, but also key differences that are expressed unevenly across different populations and cultural groups. The rise in nonmarital cohabitation has upended conventional theoretical models and measurement approaches to the study of traditional marriage, complicating matters but also reinvigorating family scholarship on union formation and its implications for partners, children, and society.

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Section: Research Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cohabitation and Marriage: Complexity and Diversity in Union‐Formation Patterns

Sassler

Lichter

2020

J of Marriage and Family

Self Cite

197

140

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“…It may be that this was an early screening criterion that weeded out men who were not financially sufficient. It could also be that this was not a primary concern given the relatively universal low‐income status of available partners (Sassler et al, ). Either way, this suggests that financial viability is not the only, and perhaps not even the primary, criterion low‐income mothers use in looking for a partner.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Burton and Tucker () argued that uncertainty in the temporal organization of their lives and changing gender dynamics with regard to finances and domestic labor influence low‐income Black mothers' relationship patterns. Recent analyses by Sassler, Roy, and Stasny (), however, suggested that standard economic predictors for partnering are less applicable among low‐income mothers and their partners. Although financial burdens and contributions are no doubt significant and central concerns for low‐income mothers, little work has examined whether such mothers consider other factors when entering into a romantic union (Burton, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vetting and Letting: Cohabiting Stepfamily Formation Processes in Low‐Income Black Families

Reid

Golub

2015

J of Marriage and Family

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The authors examined cohabiting union formation processes by analyzing in-depth interview data collected from 30 individuals in cohabiting relationships: 15 low-income Black mothers of adolescents and their partners. Prior research suggests that cohabiting union formation is a gradual, nondeliberative process. In contrast, most couples in this study described a gradual but highly deliberative process. Mothers focused primarily on vetting their partners to ensure child well-being and less on when and how their partners officially came to live with them, a process the authors call vetting and letting. Mothers delineated 4 strategies to ensure their child’s well-being when vetting their partners, and their partners reported that they understood the importance of participating in this process. The authors argue that vetting and letting is a child-centered family formation process, not a partner-centered union formation process, and that cohabiting union processes may vary substantially by subpopulation.

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“…On the other hand, uncertainty about a man's employment prospects is more tolerable in the context of cohabitation, since cohabitation is often seen as a trial stage before marriage, and the costs of breaking up a cohabiting union are lower than the costs associated with divorce (Ermisch and Francesconi 2000;Oppenheimer 2003). Empirical studies have indicated that a man's ability to fulfil the role of provider remains an important prerequisite for marriage in the United States (Gibson-Davis et al 2005;Sassler et al 2014), as well as in European countries with relatively high levels of gender egalitarianism, such as Norway and Sweden (Wiik et al 2010). Provided the public benefits available to lone mothers (and/or the father's contributions) are sufficient, a woman might view childbearing outside of marriage as preferential to remaining single and childless (Ermisch 2008).…”

Section: Background: the Social Context Of Non-marital Childbearingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in partnership and marital status at first birth by women’s and their partners’ education: evidence from Britain 1991–2012

Peri-Rotem¹,

Scott²

2018

Populationyearbook

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Non-marital childbearing, especially within cohabitation, has become increasingly common in Britain, as in other Western countries. Nonetheless, births outside of marriage occur more frequently among individuals who are relatively disadvantaged in terms of income potential. Building upon previous research in family formation patterns, we examine differences by education and employment status in the proportion of marital and non-marital first births among British women and couples over the past two decades. In particular, we explore trends in educational differences in non-marital first births among women, and the relationship between the partners' joint educational attainment and childbearing within cohabitation or within marriage. We find that there has been a steady increase in the share of first births to cohabiting couples of all educational groups, but that there has been no significant change in the share of births to unpartnered women. Overall, our results show that the differences by educational attainment in the likelihood of having a non-marital first birth did not increase significantly during the observed period. The findings also indicate that among cohabiting couples, the male partner's education was negatively associated with childbearing, but that this relationship varied according to the woman's educational attainment. IntroductionIn recent decades, the proportion of children born outside of marriage has increased substantially across Western countries. This trend has largely been the result of an * Nitzan Peri-Rotem (corresponding author),

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Men’s economic status and marital transitions of fragile families

Cited by 11 publications

References 91 publications

Cohabitation and Marriage: Complexity and Diversity in Union‐Formation Patterns

Cohabitation and Marriage: Complexity and Diversity in Union‐Formation Patterns

Vetting and Letting: Cohabiting Stepfamily Formation Processes in Low‐Income Black Families

Differences in partnership and marital status at first birth by women’s and their partners’ education: evidence from Britain 1991–2012

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