Whose Economic Characteristics Matter for the Transition to Cohabitation? Gender Differences among German Couples

Valeria Ferraretto , University of Trento
Nicole Hiekel, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Agnese Vitali, University of Trento

This contribution studies the role of economic determinants – namely, employment status, length of employment contract and income – on the transition from non-co-residing partnerships, identified as living-apart-together (LAT) arrangements, to cohabitation among different-sex couples. Importantly, the role of economic characteristics of the female partner may differ from the role of those of men. Rich longitudinal data from the German Family Panel pairfam enables us to combine the characteristics of both partners at the time of being in a LAT relationship and to examine their gendered associations with the transition to a cohabiting relationship. We apply event-history analysis to data on 7,165 LAT relationships of women and men from four birth cohorts (1971/73, 1981/83, 1991/93, and 2001/3). Couples in which both partners are employed show the highest hazards of entering cohabitation, whereas gender differences emerge in unions in which one partner is employed: male employment is associated with a higher hazard of cohabitation vis-à-vis female employment. On the contrary, women in an uncertain economic situation are more or less likely to cohabit depending on their partner’s employment status; higher income associates with a faster transition to cohabitation among both working men and women. In sum, our findings suggest that, in Germany, cohabitation requires a certain degree of economic security. The integration of the couple level to the study of economic factors influencing cohabiting unions and the emphasis on gender inequalities constitute the theoretical and empirical contribution of this study.

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 Presented in Session P1. Fertility, Family, Life Course