IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v38y2018i66.html

A cohort comparison of trends in first cohabitation duration in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Sara Mernitz

    (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates US first cohabitation duration between young adults born in the 1950s and young adults born in the 1980s and how socioeconomic resources contribute to cohabitation duration by cohort. Methods: Using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979 and 1997 (NLSY79 and NLSY97), I employ life table estimates and competing-risks Cox proportional hazard models to study how cohabitation duration and transitions out of cohabitation have changed over time. Results: Young adult cohabitations are short-lived, regardless of cohort; however, NLSY97 cohabiting youth were slower to marry or dissolve than NLSY79 cohabitors. Socioeconomically advantaged NLSY79 youth experienced short-term cohabitation followed by marriage. In the NLSY97 cohort, results provide support for the delinking of marriage and cohabitation, regardless of socioeconomic status. Contribution: This study is the first longitudinal cohort study to explore young adult cohabitation duration in the United States. Additionally, this study empirically tests how socioeconomic resources contribute to remaining in cohabitation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Mernitz, 2018. "A cohort comparison of trends in first cohabitation duration in the United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(66), pages 2073-2086.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:38:y:2018:i:66
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.66
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol38/66/38-66.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.66?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fenaba Addo, 2014. "Debt, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Young Adulthood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1677-1701, October.
    2. Wendy Manning & Pamela Smock & Cassandra Dorius & Elizabeth Cooksey, 2014. "Cohabitation Expectations Among Young Adults in the United States: Do They Match Behavior?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(2), pages 287-305, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deirdre Bloome & Shannon Ang, 2020. "Marriage and Union Formation in the United States: Recent Trends Across Racial Groups and Economic Backgrounds," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(5), pages 1753-1786, October.
    2. Haoming Song, 2022. "Women’s Divergent Union Transitions After Marital Dissolution in the United States," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 953-980, June.
    3. Rachel Arocho, 2021. "“I Have No Idea:” Uncertainty in High School Seniors’ Marital Expectations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(4), pages 771-793, August.
    4. Matthew R. Wright & Gwendolyn Zugarek & Susan L. Brown & Wendy D. Manning, 2025. "A Cohort Comparison of Relationship Quality Among Cohabitors," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 44(6), pages 1-26, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wendy D. Manning & Pamela J. Smock & Marshal Neal Fettro, 2019. "Cohabitation and Marital Expectations Among Single Millennials in the U.S," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(3), pages 327-346, June.
    2. Daniel Schneider & Kristen Harknett & Matthew Stimpson, 2019. "Job Quality and the Educational Gradient in Entry Into Marriage and Cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(2), pages 451-476, April.
    3. Wen, Le & Ali, Abdelrahman & Zhou, Zhipeng, 2026. "Rising housing rents and migrants' marriage formation: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Stella Min & Miles G. Taylor, 2018. "Racial and Ethnic Variation in the Relationship Between Student Loan Debt and the Transition to First Birth," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 165-188, February.
    5. Fenaba R. Addo, 2017. "Financial Integration and Relationship Transitions of Young Adult Cohabiters," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 84-99, March.
    6. Emily Parker, 2021. "Gender Differences in the Marital Plans and Union Transitions of First Cohabitations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(4), pages 673-694, August.
    7. Casey J. Totenhagen & Melissa J. Wilmarth & Joyce Serido & Melissa A. Curran & Soyeon Shim, 2019. "Pathways from Financial Knowledge to Relationship Satisfaction: The Roles of Financial Behaviors, Perceived Shared Financial Values with the Romantic Partner, and Debt," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 423-437, September.
    8. Deirdre Bloome & Shannon Ang, 2020. "Marriage and Union Formation in the United States: Recent Trends Across Racial Groups and Economic Backgrounds," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(5), pages 1753-1786, October.
    9. Nam, Yunju, 2021. "Parents’ financial assistance for college and black-white wealth disparity," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    10. Catherine P. Montalto & Erica L. Phillips & Anne McDaniel & Amanda R. Baker, 2019. "College Student Financial Wellness: Student Loans and Beyond," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 3-21, March.
    11. Christina Gibson-Davis & Anna Gassman-Pines & Rebecca Lehrman, 2018. "“His” and “Hers”: Meeting the Economic Bar to Marriage," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2321-2343, December.
    12. Xiaomin Li & Muhammad Aamir Khan & Ashley Kuelz & Zuyi Zhao, 2025. "Practicing Money Management Makes Things Better: Healthy Financial Behaviors Attenuates Associations among Insecure Attachment, Economic Abuse Victimization, and Hopelessness," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 508-524, June.
    13. Katrin Schwanitz & Francesco Rampazzo & Agnese Vitali, 2021. "Unpacking intentions to leave the parental home in Europe using the Generations and Gender Survey," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(2), pages 17-54.
    14. Sieg, Holger & Wang, Yu, 2018. "The impact of student debt on education, career, and marriage choices of female lawyers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 124-147.
    15. Fenaba R. Addo & Jason N. Houle & Sharon Sassler, 2019. "The Changing Nature of the Association Between Student Loan Debt and Marital Behavior in Young Adulthood," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 86-101, March.
    16. Eric E. Sevareid & Katherine Graham & Karen Benjamin Guzzo & Wendy D. Manning & Susan L. Brown, 2023. "Have Teens’ Cohabitation, Marriage, and Childbearing Goals Changed Since the Great Recession?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(6), pages 1-29, December.
    17. Shana L. Pribesh & Jane Smith Carson & Mikaela J. Dufur & Yuanyuan Yue & Kathy Morgan, 2020. "Family Structure Stability and Transitions, Parental Involvement, and Educational Outcomes," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-14, December.
    18. Wenhua Di & Carla Fletcher & Jeff Webster, 2022. "A Rescue or a Trap?—An Analysis of Parent PLUS Student Loans," Working Papers 2217, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    19. Keera Allendorf & Arland Thornton & Dirgha J. Ghimire & Linda Young-DeMarco & Colter Mitchell, 2021. "A Good Age to Marry? An Intergenerational Model of the Influence of Timing Attitudes on Entrance into Marriage," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(1), pages 179-209, March.
    20. Kasey J. Eickmeyer & Wendy D. Manning & Monica A. Longmore & Peggy C. Giordano, 2023. "Exploring the Married-Cohabiting Income Pooling Gap Among Young Adults," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 990-1006, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:38:y:2018:i:66. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.