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”

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 youths aged years response to the question statement “Living together outside of marriage is always wrong”, BHPS Strongly agree/ agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly disagree / disagree

Percentage distribution, by age group, of respondents who disagree, or strongly disagree, with statements about cohabitation and marriage, BSA,

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 11992: Wave 2 Full marriage & cohabitation history Annual status updates 1998: Wave 8 Relationship questions Annual status updates 2003: Wave 13 Relationship questions repeat Annual status updates 2006 Wave 16

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?  1Planning to marry  2Probably get married at some point  3Probably just keep living together without marrying  4Have not really thought about the future  5Other (specify)  6Don’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?”  1Very likely  2Likely  3Unlikely  4Very unlikely  5Don’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 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

Percentage distribution of reported disadvantages of cohabitation relative to marriage, currently cohabiting respondents, 1998 and Disadvantages in living as a couple rather than marriage? First mentioned disadvantage Financial insecurity No legal status Effects on children Lack of commitment Social stigma Other

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 n= n=401 MaleFemaleMaleFemale Very likely Likely Unlikely Very unlikely Don’t know

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 years years > 5 years

% distribution of union expectations, by prior live- in relationship, 1998 and (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 Prob. marry Live together

Do individuals achieve their relationship expectations? Outcome ExpectationSplit upMarryContinue cohabit Plan to marry Probably marry Live together No thought to future Do not know

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? – % of individual interviews record 3 rd 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 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 Plan to marry Prob. marry Just live tog. Plan to marry Prob. marry Just live tog. Men Plan to marry Prob. marry Just live tog

Percentage distribution of relationship outcomes by 1998 relationship expectations, cohabiting couples.

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 or singlehood?