IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v41y2025i1d10.1007_s10680-025-09738-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wealth and Family Formation: Insights from First Cohabitation, Marriage, and Birth in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Philipp M. Lersch

    (DIW Berlin
    Einstein Center Population Diversity
    Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

Abstract

Existing research has demonstrated that wealthier individuals differ in family formation. Potential explanations draw on wealth’s use and symbolic value as well as the relative economic bar of family formation. This study examines the relationship between wealth and three family formation events in Germany: first cohabitation, marriage, and birth. Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002–2017) are used with multi-state, competing-risk, discrete-time event history analysis. Results show that wealth, primarily driven by homeownership, significantly influences cohabitation, marriage, and birth. The impact of homeownership is particularly notable for marriage and birth and shows gender-specific associations for cohabitants. The findings highlight the substantial influence of wealth—most likely through its symbolic and use value—in shaping family formation while indicating limited support for a relative economic bar in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Philipp M. Lersch, 2025. "Wealth and Family Formation: Insights from First Cohabitation, Marriage, and Birth in Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 41(1), pages 1-24, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:41:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-025-09738-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-025-09738-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10680-025-09738-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10680-025-09738-6?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

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:spr:eurpop:v:41:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-025-09738-6. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.