Marriage and union formation, families and households

The analysis is based on register data comprising all Norwegian married and cohabiting couples whose first common child was born in the period 1987 – 2001. We analyze the sharing of breadwinning responsibilities within the couple at three stages of the family cycle: the year the first common child was born, two years after and six years after. We define the following four groups of breadwinning models: I Traditional (mother’s income amounts to 35 percent or less of father’s income), II “Equality light” (mother’s income amounts to between 35 and 80 percent of father’s income), III Equal (mother’s income amounts to between 80 and 120 percent of father’s income) and IV Untraditional (mother’s income amounts to more than 120 percent of father’s income, including couples where father’s income = 0). We investigate to what extent the couples’ distribution on breadwinning models are influenced by socioeconomic resources, defined as couple’s education (combined classification) and father’s income, marital status (married or cohabiting), as well as family changes after the initial year – like additional children born and transition to marriage for cohabitants. We also include several demographic variables as control variables.

In transition period family modernization in Georgia is being processed against the background of certain peculiarities, which is reflected in formation of neo-traditional model of Georgian family. In this process primarily the impact of the fundamental factors is noticeable in comparison with specific factors. Such liberal - democratic values, established in the family, affected the traditional socio-demographic behavior of Georgian family: individual freedom, emancipation, individualism, etc.
Sociological studies together with demographic data confirm that transformation of family's socio-demographic behavior, is especially clearly nociteable in family formation and dissolution process. In particular, against background of the reduction of the average age of divorce, the first marriage age is increased. Due to unrecognized religious marriages legally by the state, the number of unregistered marriages has been increased and accordingly - the number of children born in unregistered marriages, which is fluctuating within 5-8%.
In the paper we will discuss about peculiarities of family modernization in Georgia in the modern period, its comparison analysis, negative and positive aspects of family modernization, spread of western marital behavior in Georgia and others.

Present paper is an attempt to understand levels, trends and differentials of marriage dissolution during past three decades (1971-2001) in India by using census data. This paper also examines the remarriage cases among the persons who have experienced divorce/separation. Whether the cases of marriage dissolution are same for both the sexes or higher or lower among the particular sex throughout over decades? What is the dissimilarity in their age pattern? Is the sex ratio balanced, among those who have experienced marriage dissolution in their lives?
Result reveals that over the last few decades gender disparity between the sexes has been widened among the divorced/separated population. Sex ratio of divorced persons which is the ‘ratio of females to males in a population’ is much higher than the sex ratio of married population. One of the surprising findings from the study is that, in some of the states sex ratio among the divorced/separated population is very high, which is more than 5,000 females per thousand males, especially in Kerala and Manipur. This imbalance indirectly shows that practice of remarriage is more common among the males as compared to females. Analysis reveals that the dissolution rates are higher among the southern and northeastern states as compared to the northern, western and central states.

Most West-European countries recognize same-sex marriage and/or partnerships. Taken together as same-sex union registration (SSUR), this paper proposes a comparative study of European SSUR rates. It describes differences between low and high rates, male and female participation, and other contrasts. It brings arguments for understanding the differences using national demographic statistics and in-depth interviews with same-sex couples in twelve European countries.
The paper suggests individualization has paradoxical effects on SSUR: it facilitates legal recognition, but goes with low registration rates. Second, it suggests high feminist values have equally paradoxical effects. Strongly opposed to SSUR at the beginning, lesbian couples took major advantage of it some year later in order to found families. Nevertheless, the overall effect is negative; frequencies remain low in feminist environments. Third, it suggests that high visibility of LGBT communities tends to turn legal recognition into national pride, shared by mainstream media. This “triumphant homosexuality” features high SSUR rates. Only French rates are higher, taking advantage of both homosexual visibility and strong family ties. The non-traditional character of the Pacs seems well adapted to this double-sided adherence.

The recent rise in age at marriage, reduction in fertility and increase in the life span of men and women make Iran an interesting place to study different aspects of family development (i.e. children’s birth, growth and departure from the parental home). Using the 2009 Time Use Survey, representing urban areas of Iran, this paper shows socio-economic differences in the timing of major family development stages and the spouses’ role behaviour as they go through successive stages. The results show that (1) the timing and the associated role behaivour of these stages vary by the level of education for both husbands and wives, (2) the role behavior (specially occupational, parental and domestic roles) greatly varies between husbands and wives and (3) both the timing and the role behavior trivially vary by the family’s economic status. These results not only contribute to the knowledge of family dynamics in Iran, but also help programme planning aimed at assisting people as they go through their life course. Future studies are needed to describe the spouses’ role expectations at each family development stage and their important correlates to provide a better understanding about gender role structures within family.

The recent rise in age at marriage, reduction in fertility and increase in the life span of men and women in Iran make this country an interesting place to study different aspects of family development (i.e. children’s birth, growth and departure from the parental home). Using the 2009 Time Use Survey, representing urban areas of Iran, this paper shows socio-economic differences in the timing of major family development stages and the spouses’ role behaviour as they go through successive stages. The results show that (1) the timing of these stages and the associated role behaivour vary by level of education for both wives and husbands, (2) the role behaviour (particularly occupational, parental and domestic roles) greatly varies between wives and husbands and (3) both the timing and the role behaviour trivially vary by the family’s economic status. These results not only contribute to the knowledge of family dynamics in Iran, but also help programme planning aimed at assisting people as they go through their life course. Future studies are needed to describe the spouses’ role expectations at each family development stage to provide a better understanding about gender role structures within family.

According to theory of second demographic transition change in norms and attitudes towards family formation should lead to increase in proportion of extramarital births and simultaneous decrease in proportion of marital births. However in countries like Poland significant fraction of marital births are those conceived outside of pre-maritally and delivered within marriage (26% bridal pregnancies in 2011). This pattern results from existence of normative tension related to legitimization of out-of-wedlock births. Our main research hypothesis states that this results mostly from pressure from older generation to obey the norm and is sanctioned by degree of economic support given to the youth. Thus, we expect higher incidence of bridal pregnancies among families with higher economic and social status.
In order to test above hypotheses we use data from GGS conducted in Poland. Additionally the results for Poland are confronted with results coming from other countries with high (Italy, Spain) and low (Netherlands) incidence of bridal pregnancies. Analyses are aimed at measurement of intergenerational pressure via social proximity of generations, economic status of older generation and economic status of young couple. For the purpose of modeling we use multinomial logit model for our outcome variable (type of family formation).

Patterns of marital unions have changed in the Philippines in recent years. Formal marriage has declined while informal marriages or cohabitation has increased. Percentages of live births registered as nonmarital has likewise increased.

In this paper, we revisit and examine the meaning of marriage and cohabitation in today’s society with the goal of documenting and teasing out the different dimensions of those meanings. We use data from 12 FGDs of men and women from three metro areas in the Philippines conducted in 2007.

Results show that normative meanings attached to marriage remain but some of its dimensions have become salient. Marriage remains a natural course in people’s life but the attribution of an old unmarried person appears to be more allied with females than males. Marriage has become less of a marker of adulthood in the context of other more pressing considerations like financial security and stability, establishment of careers, or settlement of parental obligations. In the face of unforeseen events, like the occurrence of pregnancy outside of marriage, marriage remains an ideal while more practical considerations gain prominence. For some young people, they are willing to wait when the ‘time is right” while for others cohabitation becomes a rational choice.

Shifts in the nature of educational opportunities, co-residence with parents, career development, the timing of parenthood, and the nature of living arrangements have increased the flexibility in transitions to adulthood in the United States. The average age at first marriage has increased to 26 for women and 28 for men, providing more lifecourse space for many more premarital family experiences. Using data from the 2008 and 2010 rounds of the NLSY79 Young Adult Survey, we examine both attitudes towards and actual behaviors pertaining to the family formation of adolescents and young adults including parenthood, cohabitation, and marriage. Prior studies demonstrate that these pathways to adulthood differ markedly according to socioeconomic circumstances. As close to half of young adults ages 18-24 live with their parents, we pay particular attention to linkages between family formation transitions and parental coresidence. Our goal is to provide an update of the contemporary experiences of young adults in the United States today, and to showcase the potentially complex portrait of their family and living circumstances -- a portrait that differs by socioeconomic background, family characteristics and adolescent expectations, experiences and behaviors.

Over the past four decades Botswana has witnessed considerable changes in nuptiality patterns reflected in, among others, notable increases in cohabiting unions. According to the 1991 census, 12 percent of all people aged 15 years and above reported themselves as cohabiting. This figure had increased to approximately 17 percent and to over 20 percent at the time of the 2001 and 2011 census respectively. To the extent that parents’ union status has important implications for children’s well-being and overall development, this paper uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative data to assess the extent to which the increase in cohabitation has impacted on the socio-economic wellbeing of children in Botswana. The overall results show that neither of the two legal systems in Botswana (customary and civil law) recognises cohabitation as a social institution and, in consequence, children of cohabitants socially disadvantaged relative to those whose parents are married. Evidence is also presented to show that children of cohabitants are likely to be raised in less economically favourable conditions than those children whose parents are married. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the results and a proposed research agenda for future work on the subject.