Cohabitation and Beyond

The Contribution of Each Partner's Relationship Satisfaction and Fertility Aspirations to Pathways of Cohabiting Couples

Bibliographic Data

ID2953083
AuthorsLixia Qu (0000-0002-9865-906X, Level 20, 485 La Trobe Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia.), Ruth Weston (Level 20, 485 La Trobe Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia.), David De Vaus (The University of Queensland)
Year2009
Volume40
Issue4
Pages587-601
Publication date2009-08-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Comparative Family Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2328 • E-ISSN: 1929-9850
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcfs.40.4.587
OpenAlexW51100239
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited10

A great deal of research attention has been directed to understanding why marriages last or end in separation. Far less attention has been extended to cohabiting relationships, where couples live together without being registered as married. As in other developed countries, couple formation patterns in Australia have changed dramatically over the last few decades, with most "living-together" unions now beginning with cohabitation rather than marriage, and with an increasing proportion of babies now being born to cohabiting couples. This paper uses longitudinal data to track what happens to cohabiting relationships: whether the partners subsequently marry each other, separate or continue to cohabit over a two-year period. It then investigates the role of each partner's relationship satisfaction and fertility aspirations in influencing the pathway taken

Cohabitation · Demographic economics · Economics · Fertility · Political science · Population · Sociology · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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