Cohabitation and Marriage: Complexity and Diversity in Union‐Formation Patterns

Nonmarital cohabitation and marriage are now fundamentally linked, a fact that is routinely reflected in current research on union formation. Unprecedented changes in the timing, duration, and sequencing of intimate co‐residential relationships have made the study of traditional marriage far more co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of marriage and family Vol. 82; no. 1; pp. 35 - 61
Main Authors Sassler, Sharon, Lichter, Daniel T.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken, USA Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2020
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects
Census of Population
Child Development
Cohabitation
Cultural differences
Cultural groups
family formation
Gender relations
Interpersonal Relationship
Intimacy
intimate relationships
Longitudinal Studies
Marriage
mate selection
Measurement
Middle class
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Personal relationships
Public policy
Social sciences
Theory
Timing
Trends
union formation
Unionization
Australia
Canada
United States > US
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Summary:Nonmarital cohabitation and marriage are now fundamentally linked, a fact that is routinely reflected in current research on union formation. Unprecedented changes in the timing, duration, and sequencing of intimate co‐residential relationships have made the study of traditional marriage far more complex today than in the past. It is now clear that a white, middle‐class, American‐centric research template has become increasingly anachronistic. In this review article, we begin by providing an overview of contemporary theory, empirical approaches, and demographic trends in cohabitation and marriage, focusing primarily on the United States, but also distinguishing the U.S. from patterns found in other high‐income societies, including European countries, Canada, Australia, and in East Asia. We place the spotlight on the causes and consequences of union transitions. We identify the commonalities between cohabitation and marriage, but also key differences that are expressed unevenly across different populations and cultural groups. The rise in nonmarital cohabitation has upended conventional theoretical models and measurement approaches to the study of traditional marriage, complicating matters but also reinvigorating family scholarship on union formation and its implications for partners, children, and society.
ISSN:0022-2445
1741-3737
DOI:10.1111/jomf.12617