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> cohabitation is less stable than marriage regardless of the mother’s educational background. In the overwhelming majority of countries, the most educated coha
by barry-cotter 5y ago
> cohabitation is less stable than marriage regardless of the mother’s educational background. In the overwhelming majority of countries, the most educated cohabiting parents still have a far higher rate of break-up than the lowest educated married couples.
The commitment effects of marriage are a lot stronger than socioeconomic effects. Cohabiting professional managerial class couples break up more than married working class couples.
- mrtranscendence 5y agoI'd be curious if that remains the case when conditioning on cohabitation length. Perhaps newly entered cohabitation is more likely to result in a breakup than a newly entered marriage, but is a ten-year cohabitation much more likely than a ten-year marriage to eventually break up? If not, the statistic that cohabitation results in breakup more often could simply be a byproduct of how much easier it is to enter cohabitation than marriage, so it's done more frequently with less consideration.
- mensetmanusman 5y ago“ If not, the statistic that cohabitation results in breakup more often could simply be a byproduct of how much easier it is to enter cohabitation than marriage” What’s funny about what you said, is that it is exactly the professed reason for getting married. I.e. marriage is harder to do, you have to get in front of the entire community and sign a consent contract. Etc. Doing hard things raises the bar for a relationship, and, controlling for everything possible, has far better outcomes for children.