Currently cohabiting: relationship attitudes and intentions in the BHPS.

Ernestina Coast

Cohabitation Fuzzy

Heterogeneous, includes: Post-marriage (pre- and post-divorce) Pre-marriage Post widowhood

Evolving “a moving target” 1980s “alternative lifestyle”

All women in sample12,969

Never in union3,520

Married6,351

Dissolve #11784

Remain married4567

Cohabit #13,098

Dissolve #1

808

Remain cohab1132

Marry #11158

Marry # 2273

Cohabit # 1648

Remain unpartnered

863

Marry # 1111

Cohabit #2 382

Remain unpartnered

315

Dissolve#1389

Remain married

760

Remain married

152

Dissolve # 2121

Remain cohabit

124

Marry #2393

Dissolve # 2131

Dissolve #231

Remain married

80

Dissolve # 2147

Remain cohabit

114

Marry # 1121

Marry #2

Cohabit#2

Remain unpartnered

139

Marry # 3

Cohabitation#1

Remain unpartnered

72

Marry # 2

Cohab#2

Remain unpartnered

59

Dissolve#2

Remainmarried

Marry#2

Cohabit#2

Remain unpartnered

14

Dissolve # 235

Remain married

85

Remain unpartne

red68

Cohabit #367

Marry#1

Dissolve#2

Stay married

23

Marry#2

Dissolve#2

Stay cohab

64

Dissolve#3

Stay married

12

Stay cohabit

5

Marry#3

Dissolve#3

Dissolve#3

Stay married

7

Marry#2

Dissolve#3

Stay cohab

17

Marry#3

Remain unpartnered

56

Cohabit#2

Dissolve#3

Stay married

2

Dissolve#3

Stay cohabit

6

Marry#2

Dissolve#3

Stay married

4

StayCohabit

Dissolve#3

Marry#1

RemainUnpartnered

Cohabit#2

StayMarried

Dissolve#2

Marry#2

Cohabit#3

Remain unpartnered

25

Relationship pathways, all women, BHPS (2005)

Good large-scale descriptive data on incidence and trends

Representative attitudinal surveys

Empirical gap: cohabitees US research emerging qualitative research survey data relationship intentions and attitudes

longitudinal data – collected while subjective state exists systematic empirical investigation of social change

Normative attitudes

• Changing social norms around marriage

– Deinstitutionalisation of marriage – (Cherlin, 1994)

– Démariage – (Thery, 1994),

– Disestablishment of marriage – (Coontz, 2004, quoting Cott).

BHPS normative attitudes

• “Living together outside of marriage is always wrong” – 1992, 1994, 1996

• “It is alright for people to live together even if they have no interest in considering marriage” – 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004

Percentage distribution of attitudes towards, and experience of, cohabitation, by birth cohort and sex, BHPS, 2004

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970

Birth cohort

Perc

enta

ge (s

tron

gly)

agr

ee re

pson

se to

th

e st

atem

ent "

It is

alri

ght f

or p

eopl

e to

liv

e to

geth

er e

ven

if th

ey h

ave

no

inte

rest

in c

onsi

derin

g m

arria

ge"

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Percentage ever cohabited

Agree statement male

Agree statement female

Ever cohabited male

Ever cohabited female

Percentage distribution of youths aged 11-15 years response to the question statement “Living together outside of marriage is

always wrong”, BHPS 1994-2005

1994 1999 2000 2001 2005

Strongly agree/

agree

19.0 12.8 11.9 10.6 13.3

Neither agree nor disagree

21.2 27.9 26.7 23.5 30.8

Strongly disagree / disagree

59.8 59.3 61.4 65.9 55.9

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1994 2002 1994 2002 1994 2002 1994 2002 1994 2002 1994 2002 1994 2002 1994 2002 1994 2002

18-34 35-54 55+ 18-34 35-54 55+ 18-34 35-54 55+

It is all right for a couple to livetogether without intending to

get married

It is a good idea for a couplewho intend to get married to

live together first

People who want childrenought to get married

Per

cen

tPercentage distribution, by age group, of respondents who

disagree, or strongly disagree, with statements about cohabitation and marriage, BSA, 1994-2002.

• Social acceptance of cohabitation well-established

• Moved from deviant to normative behaviour

• Acceptance likely to increase– Cohort replacement– Socialisation– Social diffusion

British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)

Annual since 1991

Approx. 5,000 households

Full interview with new partners

1991: Wave 1

1991

: W

ave

1

1992: Wave 2 Full marriage & cohabitation history

1991

: W

ave

1

1992

: W

ave

2 F

ull

mar

riag

e &

co

hab

itat

ion

his

tory

Annual status updates

1991

: W

ave

1

1992

: W

ave

2 F

ull

mar

riag

e &

co

hab

itat

ion

his

tory

An

nu

al s

tatu

s u

pd

ates

1998: Wave 8

Relationship questions

1991

: W

ave

1

1992

: W

ave

2 F

ull

mar

riag

e &

co

hab

itat

ion

his

tory

An

nu

al s

tatu

s u

pd

ates

1998

: W

ave

8

Rel

atio

nsh

ip q

ues

tion

sAnnual status updates

1991

: W

ave

1

1992

: W

ave

2 F

ull

mar

riag

e &

co

hab

itat

ion

his

tory

An

nu

al s

tatu

s u

pd

ates

1998

: W

ave

8

Rel

atio

nsh

ip q

ues

tion

s

An

nu

al s

tatu

s u

pd

ates

2003: Wave 13

Relationship questions repeat

1991

: W

ave

1

1992

: W

ave

2 F

ull

mar

riag

e &

co

hab

itat

ion

his

tory

An

nu

al s

tatu

s u

pd

ates

1998

: W

ave

8

Rel

atio

nsh

ip q

ues

tion

s

An

nu

al s

tatu

s u

pd

ates

2003

: W

ave

13

Rel

atio

nsh

ip q

ues

tion

s re

pea

t

An

nu

al s

tatu

s u

pd

ates

2006 Wave 16

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1970 1960 1950 1940 1930 1920 1910

Birth cohort

Per

cen

tag

e o

f b

irth

co

ho

rt

Ever-married and non-cohabiting

Post-maritalcohabitation

Married

Pre-maritalcohabitation

Never-married andnon-cohabiting

Percentage distribution of marital and cohabiting status, by birth cohort, women, 2003

Questions “We are interested in why you and your partner

have chosen to live together rather than being married. Do you think there are any (dis)advantages in living as a couple, rather than being married?”

If “Yes”

“What do you think are the (dis)advantages of living as a couple?”

Question: Future intentions “Obviously you cannot say for certain what will

happen, but could you please look at this card and read out the number of the statement which you feel applies most closely to your current relationship?

1 Planning to marry 2 Probably get married at some point 3 Probably just keep living together without marrying 4 Have not really thought about the future 5 Other (specify) 6 Don’t know

Supplementary Question “Even though you have no plans to

marry at the moment, can you please look at this card and tell me how likely it is that you will ever get married to anyone in the future?”

1 Very likely 2 Likely 3 Unlikely 4 Very unlikely 5 Don’t know

Interrogating the questions

Grounded in reality Take account of circumstances rather than an

expression of abstract desire

Supplementary question on marriage expectation moves from current relationship to any future hypothetical relationship

Phrased relative to marriage

Percentage distribution of reported advantages of cohabitation relative to marriage, currently

cohabiting respondents, 1998 and 2003.1998 2003

Advantages in living as a couple rather than marriage?

40.0% 32.0%

First mentioned advantage

Trial marriage

No legal ties

Improves relationship

Previous bad marriage

Personal independence

Financial advantage

Companionship

Prefer cohabitation

Other

30.7

29.8

5.2

1.6

10.0

16.1

2.0

1.4

3.2

23.6

24.5

3.6

2.7

10.9

22.2

3.1

1.3

8.2

Percentage distribution of reported disadvantages of cohabitation relative to

marriage, currently cohabiting respondents, 1998 and 2003.

1998 2003

Disadvantages in living as a couple rather than marriage?

26.7 23.6

First mentioned disadvantage

Financial insecurity

No legal status

Effects on children

Lack of commitment

Social stigma

Other

39.0

16.6

5.4

15.6

16.3

7.1

30.4

32.1

6.2

9.6

11.3

10.4

Percentage distribution of responses to the statement “How likely it is that you will ever get married to anyone in the future?”, by

currently cohabiting, never married respondents with no plans to marry their current partner, by sex, 1998 and 2003.

1998

n=268

2003

n=401

Male Female Male Female

Very likely 4.7 5.8 3.1 3.4

Likely 24.0 28.8 18.9 23.9

Unlikely 25.6 38.8 40.8 42.9

Very unlikely

34.1 18.0 27.0 22.9

Don’t know

11.6 8.6 10.2 6.8

Percentage distribution of future relationship expectations, by duration of current cohabiting

relationship (n=1,015 respondents), 2003

Expectation of current cohabiting relationship

Plan to marry

Probably marry

Live together

Duration of current cohabiting relationship

< 1 year 30.5 38.0 31.6

1-2 years 29.9 44.4 25.7

2-5 years 19.8 48.5 31.7

> 5 years 9.2 33.4 57.4

% distribution of union expectations, by prior live-in relationship, 1998 and 2003

1998

(n=1,007)

2003

(n=1,343)

No prior live-in union

Prior live-in union

No prior live-in union

Prior live-in union

Expect. of current cohabit union

Plan to marry

24.7 13.3 22.7 16.9

Prob. marry

46.8 37.6 47.2 33.7

Live together

28.5 49.0 30.1 49.4

Do individuals achieve their relationship expectations?

Outcome

Expectation Split up Marry Continue cohabit

Plan to marry 0.9 10.7 4.2

Probably marry

7.0 13.6 20.9

Live together 6.6 4.8 23.9

No thought to future

1.3 0.6 3.7

Do not know 0.1 0.1 1.5

Couple concordance / discordance

• Use only couples with full responses to questions– Potential bias for homogeneity of response– Only first-ever live-in relationships

• Interview effect?– 1998 58% of individual interviews record 3rd party

• 89% coded as no influence exerted by the third party

Do couples report conflicting relationship attitudes and expectations?

1998

n=168 couples

2003

n=231 couples

Couple concordant

Couple concordant

Advantages to cohabitation

65.4% 64.9%

Disadvantages to cohabitation

63.9% 74.0%

% distribution couple expectations, 1998 and 2003, first unions only

1998

n=137 couples

2003

n=196 couples

Women Women

Plan to marry

Prob. marry

Just live tog.

Plan to marry

Prob. marry

Just live tog.

Men

Plan to marry

20.4 8.0 0.7 19.9 5.1 1.0

Prob. marry

3.6 43.8 5.8 3.6 37.8 10.7

Just live tog.

0 5.8 11.7 0 4.6 17.3

Percentage distribution of relationship outcomes by 1998 relationship expectations, cohabiting

couples.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Plan to marry Probably marry Continue cohabit

Agree Disagree

Continue cohabit

Marry

Split up

Discussion

• Analyses at the relationship level

• Living apart together (LAT)

• Assumption of rational choice– Vague or underspecified goals

• Qualitative insights

• Cohabitation versus marriage or LAT?