Over the past few decades, cohabitation and childbearing within and cohabitation have increased dramatically in most industrialized countries. In this presentation, I will provide an overview of my project that aims to understand the increase in cohabitation from a number of analytical perspectives. First, I will briefly describe trends in cohabitation, propose general explanations for the increase in these behaviors, and show how policies about cohabitation and marriage differ across countries. Then I will discuss focus group research that investigates the meaning of cohabitation in different countries in Europe. Finally, I will present preliminary results investigating the potential consequences of cohabitation, to see whether those who cohabit differ from those who marry. Using the British Cohort Study 1970, we employ propensity score matching to examine whether ever experiencing different types of partnership behavior produces differences in positive mental health at age 42. Taken as a whole, this research provides insights into why family change is occurring and whether the change matters.
Presented by:
Brienna Perelli-Harris (University of Southampton)
Date & time:
November 10, 2014 4:00 pm - November 10, 2014 5:30 pm
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