IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/poprpr/v39y2020i4d10.1007_s11113-019-09549-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cohabitation or Marriage? How Relationship Status and Community Context Influence the Well-being of Children in Developing Nations

Author

Listed:
  • Hayley Pierce

    (Brigham Young University)

  • Tim B. Heaton

    (Brigham Young University)

Abstract

Drawing upon the developmental idealism framework (Thornton et al. Sociol Dev 1(2):69–112, 2015), this study examines the relationship between mother’s marital status (formal versus informal) and the health and schooling of children in 27 developing nations. More specifically, we consider the role of couple characteristics and the spread of modern cultural values on the relationship between marital status and child well-being. Using the Demographic and Health Surveys of 27 less developed countries, we focus on five child outcomes: delivery by a skilled birth attendant, vaccinations, child nutritional status, child mortality, and school enrollment. We find that child health and educational outcomes are positive when mothers are in informal unions, but that this benefit is largely explained by individual characteristics, as well as the community context. We conclude that both couple characteristics and trends toward greater choice and equality in family life account for the positive association between informal unions and child well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Hayley Pierce & Tim B. Heaton, 2020. "Cohabitation or Marriage? How Relationship Status and Community Context Influence the Well-being of Children in Developing Nations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(4), pages 719-737, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:39:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s11113-019-09549-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-019-09549-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-019-09549-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11113-019-09549-8?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Catherine Kenney & Sara McLanahan, 2006. "Why are cohabiting relationships more violent than marriages?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 127-140, February.
    2. Sara Mclanahan, 2004. "Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(4), pages 607-627, November.
    3. Viviana Salinas, 2011. "Socioeconomic Differences According to Family Arrangements in Chile," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(5), pages 677-699, October.
    4. Kristen Harknett, 2009. "Why are Children with Married Parents Healthier? The Case of Pediatric Asthma," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 28(3), pages 347-365, June.
    5. Albert Esteve & Robert McCaa & Luis López, 2013. "The Educational Homogamy Gap Between Married and Cohabiting Couples in Latin America," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(1), pages 81-102, February.
    6. Rachel E. Goldberg, 2013. "Family Instability and Pathways to Adulthood in Cape Town, South Africa," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(2), pages 231-256, June.
    7. Benoît Laplante & Teresa Castro Martín & Clara Cortina & Ana Laura Fostik, 2016. "The contributions of childbearing within marriage and within consensual union to fertility in Latin America, 1980-2010," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(29), pages 827-844.
    8. Ron Lesthaeghe, 2010. "The Unfolding Story of the Second Demographic Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(2), pages 211-251, June.
    9. Máire Ní Bhrolcháin & ÉVa Beaujouan, 2013. "Education and Cohabitation in Britain: A Return to Traditional Patterns?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 441-458, September.
    10. Emily Smith-Greenaway & Jenny Trinitapoli, 2014. "Polygynous Contexts, Family Structure, and Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(2), pages 341-366, April.
    11. Cynthia Osborne & Sara McLanahan, 2007. "Partnership Instability and Child Well-being," Working Papers 946, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    12. Arland Thornton & Dimiter Philipov, 2009. "Sweeping Changes in Marriage, Cohabitation and Childbearing in Central and Eastern Europe: New Insights from the Developmental Idealism Framework [Transformations radicales du mariage, de la cohabi," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 123-156, May.
    13. Ron J. Lesthaeghe & Lisa Neidert, 2006. "The Second Demographic Transition in the United States: Exception or Textbook Example?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 32(4), pages 669-698, December.
    14. repec:pri:crcwel:wp04-16-ff-osborne is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Frost, Michelle Bellessa & Forste, Renata & Haas, David W., 2005. "Maternal education and child nutritional status in Bolivia: finding the links," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 395-407, January.
    16. Gavin W. Jones, 2007. "Delayed Marriage and Very Low Fertility in Pacific Asia," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(3), pages 453-478, September.
    17. Maira Covre-Sussai & Bart Meuleman & Sarah Botterman & Koen Matthijs, 2015. "Traditional and modern cohabitation in Latin America," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(32), pages 873-914.
    18. Ronald Bulanda & Wendy Manning, 2008. "Parental Cohabitation Experiences and Adolescent Behavioral Outcomes," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 27(5), pages 593-618, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Júlia Mikolai, 2012. "With Or Without You. Partnership Context Of First Conceptions And Births In Hungary," Demográfia English Edition, Hungarian Demographic Research Institute, vol. 55(5), pages 37-60.
    2. Olga Isupova, 2015. "Trust, responsibility, and freedom: Focus-group research on contemporary patterns of union formation in Russia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(11), pages 341-368.
    3. Jennifer Kane, 2013. "A Closer Look at the Second Demographic Transition in the US: Evidence of Bidirectionality from a Cohort Perspective (1982–2006)," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(1), pages 47-80, February.
    4. Arland Thornton, 2010. "International family change and continuity: the past and future from of the developmental idealism perspective," Demográfia English Edition, Hungarian Demographic Research Institute, vol. 53(5), pages 21-50.
    5. Brienna Perelli-Harris, 2014. "How Similar are Cohabiting and Married Parents? Second Conception Risks by Union Type in the United States and Across Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 437-464, November.
    6. Brienna Perelli-Harris & Theodore P. Gerber, 2009. "Non-marital childbearing in Russia: second demographic transition or pattern of disadvantage?," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2009-007, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Viviana Salinas, 2016. "Changes in Cohabitation After the Birth of the First Child in Chile," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(3), pages 351-375, June.
    8. Sebastian Klüsener & Brienna Perelli-Harris & Nora E. Sánchez Gassen, 2012. "Spatial aspects of the rise of nonmarital fertility across Europe since 1960: the role of states and regions in shaping patterns of change," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2012-005, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    9. Laurie F. DeRose & Andrés Salazar-Arango & Paúl Corcuera García & Montserrat Gas-Aixendri & Reynaldo Rivera, 2017. "Maternal union instability and childhood mortality risk in the Global South, 2010–14," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(2), pages 211-228, May.
    10. Sebastian Klüsener & Brienna Perelli-Harris & Nora Sánchez Gassen, 2013. "Spatial Aspects of the Rise of Nonmarital Fertility Across Europe Since 1960: The Role of States and Regions in Shaping Patterns of Change [Aspects spatiaux de l’augmentation de la fécondité hors m," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 137-165, May.
    11. Panico, Lidia & Bartley, Melanie & Kelly, Yvonne J & McMunn, Anne & Sacker, Amanda, 2019. "Family structure trajectories and early child health in the UK: Pathways to health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 220-229.
    12. 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.
    13. Paola Di Giulio & Roberto Impicciatore & Maria Sironi, 2019. "The changing pattern of cohabitation: A sequence analysis approach," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(42), pages 1211-1248.
    14. Yen-Hsin Alice Cheng, 2014. "Changing partner choice and marriage propensities by education in post-industrial Taiwan, 2000-2010," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(33), pages 1007-1042.
    15. Laura Wright, 2019. "Union Transitions and Fertility Within First Premarital Cohabitations in Canada: Diverging Patterns by Education?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 151-167, February.
    16. Emily A. Marshall & Hana Shepherd, 2022. "Variants of Second Demographic Transition: Empirical Evidence from Young Women’s Attitudes About Childbearing," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2531-2554, December.
    17. Brienna Perelli-Harris & Theodore Gerber, 2011. "Nonmarital Childbearing in Russia: Second Demographic Transition or Pattern of Disadvantage?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(1), pages 317-342, February.
    18. Steven Ruggles, 2015. "Patriarchy, Power, and Pay: The Transformation of American Families, 1800–2015," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1797-1823, December.
    19. Nicoletta Balbo & Francesco C. Billari & Melinda Mills, 2013. "Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 1-38, February.
    20. Zuzanna Brzozowska & Eva Beaujouan & Kryštof Zeman, 2022. "Is Two Still Best? Change in Parity-Specific Fertility Across Education in Low-Fertility Countries," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(5), pages 2085-2114, October.

    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:kap:poprpr:v:39:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s11113-019-09549-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.