The changing meaning of cohabitation and marriage

Abstract

"In the Netherlands, the social meaning of both marriage and cohabitation has changed. Cohabitation started as an alternative way of living, developed into a temporary phase before marriage, and finally became a strategy for moving into a union gradually.... This article addresses the question whether or not individual past and current life-course experiences become increasingly important in explaining the differentiation of entry into marriage across female birth cohorts, and yet become decreasingly important in explaining the differentiation of entry into cohabitation across female birth cohorts. This question is examined using a non-proportional hazard model. Empirical evidence supports this hypothesis strongly, in that both past determinants such as family size or religion and current life-course determinants such as work or education change in their impact on cohabitation and marriage across birth cohorts."

Has the reciprocal relationship between employment and marriage changed for men? An analysis of the life histories of men born in the Netherlands between 1930 and 1970

“…For men, the mean age at first marriage was 28 in 1950, reached a low of 24.6 in the early 1970s, and increased again to 29 in the 1990s (Kalmijn 1994a). About two-thirds of couples now live together before they marry and there are few cohabiting couples who remain unmarried for long (Liefbroer 1991;Manting 1996;De Graaf and Steenhof 1999). Second, the Netherlands has experienced the same trend towards more egalitarian gender roles that other countries have experienced.…”

Cohabitation at Later Stages of Life: Motivation for Transition to Official Marriage

“…Ряд информантов (№3, 5,15,19,20) были включены сразу в несколько групп ввиду смысловой многомерности их историй, в которых просматривалась многоаспектность мотивов перехода от статуса сожительства к официальному брачному статусу. Если обратиться к концепциям, которые базируются на идее, что активность индивида всегда ограничена определенными структурными рамками (теории Э. Гидденса, П. Бурдье, А. Шюца), то можно допустить, что мотивы сожителей к получению официального брачного статуса формируются в рамках определенной социальной действительности.…”

Living in Sin? Religion and Cohabitation in Britain 1985–2005

“…Studies in the United States and Europe have indicated a wide range of reasons for cohabiting, which include the desire to spend more time together, testing a relationship, financial benefits, convenience and housing issues (Haskey, 2001b;McRae, 1997;Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, 2009;Sassler, 2004;Seltzer, 2004). As social pressures for couples to marry decline, cohabitation has become less of a prelude to marriage and more of a permanent living arrangement parallel to marriage in which children may be raised (Bumpass & Lu, 2000;Bumpass, Sweet, & Cherlin, 1991;Manting, 1996).…”

“…Cohabitation rates have increased over the last few decades in both the United States and Europe (Haskey, 1999;Manting, 1996;Seltzer, 2004). In the UK, the proportion of couples that lived together before marrying increased from 2% in the mid 1960s to 70% in the mid 1990s, while the proportion of children born out of wedlock increased from 5% to 35% over the same period (Haskey, 2001a).…”

“…Alongside the change in practice has been a change in attitude, so that by the late 1990s, 64% of people in Britain agreed that it was all right for couples to live together without intending to get married (Haskey, 2001a). The rise in cohabiting corresponded with a decline in marriage: the General Marriage Rate The changes in Britain are seen elsewhere in Europe and in the United States (Kiernan, 2002;Manting, 1996;Seltzer, 2004). Although the causes, nature, extent and consequences of cohabitation may vary between cultures and over time, it is likely that ubiquitous increase in frequency in the West since the 1960s is at least partly linked to changes in attitudes toward couples having sexual relationships outside marriage.…”