The Transition to a Coresidential Partnership: Who Moves and Who Has the Partner Move In?

Abstract

Moving into a joint household is an important step in the process of union formation. While a growing body of literature investigates differences between those couples who start coresidence and those who do not, we know little about the likelihood of moving upon the start of coresidence. The aim of this paper is to investigate how individual and couple-level characteristics are associated with moving, or having a partner move in, at the start of coresidence. We use data from 10 waves of the German Family Panel pairfam for those who started coresidence (n = 983) and estimate logistic regression models of moving versus having a partner move in. The respondents in the sample are quite young with a mean age of 27. For long-distance relationships, those with a higher level of education than their partner and women who were living in close proximity to their parents were less likely to move. In short-distance relationships, respondents living in the parental home or in crowded housing were more likely to move than those living in uncrowded housing. In contrast with previous research, we did not find that women were more likely to move than men. Our results highlight that factors like educational resources, housing demands, and local family ties have differential effects on moving decisions at the start of coresidence depending on the distance moved.

Migration for co‐residence among long‐distance couples: The role of local family ties and gender

“…In Belgium, it is more common for women to move to the municipality of their male partner at the start of co‐residence than vice versa (Schnor & Mulder, 2018). However, Krapf et al (2021) did not find evidence of women in Germany being more likely to move for co‐residence than men; they explain this contradictory finding on the basis of their relatively young and mostly childfree sample.…”

“…Even though men actually tend to live closer to their parents than women (Blaauboer et al, 2011 for the Netherlands; Løken et al, 2013 for Norway; Malmberg & Pettersson, 2007 for Sweden; opposite results in the United States—Compton & Pollak, 2009), women typically have stronger family relationships (Fingerman et al, 2020; Rossi & Rossi, 1990) and stronger intergenerational caregiving ties (see, e.g., Cox, 2003). Correspondingly, Krapf et al (2021) found that living close to parents reduced women's but not men's likelihood of moving for co‐residence in Germany. Children, too, seem to be a more important factor in women's than in men's migration propensities (see Fischer & Malmberg, 2001).…”

“…Important predictors of family migration (Mulder & Malmberg, 2014) as well as migration to form a joint household (Brandén & Haandrikman, 2018; Krapf et al, 2021; Schnor & Mulder, 2018) are people's ties to their current location. In addition to, for instance, ties to work or a home, family members living nearby act as a strong deterrent of migration (see Mulder, 2018 for more on the role of family outside the household in internal migration and immobility).…”

“…Compared with those who live in close proximity, long‐distance couples are more geographically mobile before co‐residence and have fewer local ties (Brandén & Haandrikman, 2018; Haandrikman, 2019). For example, they live further from their parents than individuals in short‐distance couples (Krapf et al, 2021). Additionally, men living in rural areas, those moving directly from the parental home into a co‐residential union, higher‐educated individuals, and students are all more likely to have a partner at a longer distance (Haandrikman, 2019).…”

Internal Migration, Living Close to Family, and Individual Labour Market Outcomes in Spain

“…Because of gendered socialisation patterns and a tendency for women to partner with men who are a few years older, the location choices of two-gender couples tend to be dominated by the male partner. At the time of union formation, women are more likely to migrate to start coresidence than men (Brandén/Haandrikman 2019; but see Krapf et al 2021 who did not fi nd a gender difference). They were also found to be more likely to migrate at the time of marriage than men (Mulder/ Wagner 1993) and to accompany their partner as a "tied mover" (Cooke 2003).…”