Cohabitation and Children's Family Instability

This study estimates how much children's family instability is missed when we do not count transitions into and out of cohabitation, and examines early life course trajectories of children to see whether children who experience maternal cohabitation face more family instability than children who do not. Using data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, analyses show that adding transitions into and out of cohabitation to those into and out of marriage increases our measure of family instability by about 30% for White children (N = 1575) and over 100% for Black children (N = 774). We conclude that future research on the impact of children's family composition while growing up should take into account transitions into and out of cohabitation.     

Cohabitation before marriage

This study compares 159 married couples who had or had not lived together previous to marriage with respect to a number of demographic and personality variables. There were few differences between the two groups on background variables but many on personality traits. Males who had cohabited perceived themselves as more androgynous, attractive, and less religious than males who did not cohabit. Females who cohabited saw themselves as more interested in art, attractive, extroverted, intelligent, liberal, androgynous, and having more leadership qualities; while being less religious, clothes-conscious, and law-abiding than women who did not cohabit. Couples who cohabited showed significantly greater sexual experimentation and self-perception accuracy than the couples who did not cohabit. Cohabitors revealed some background and trait within-group differences as a function of the length of their cohabital experiences. The majority of differences between the groups were in terms of variables assessed on the females. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Authors' Note: This investigation was supported in part by a Research Scientist Development Award (K02-DA00017) and a research grant (DA01070) from the U.S. Public Health Service. The assistance of Deborah Cabin is gratefully acknowledged.     

Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication

The goal of the present study was to examine the relationship between premarital cohabitation experience and marital communication in an effort to understand the robust finding known as the cohabitation effect, whereby couples who cohabit before marriage have greater marital instability than couples who do not cohabit. Observed marital problem solving and social support behavior were examined as a function of premarital cohabitation experience in a sample of 92 couples in the first 2 years of their first marriages. Spouses who cohabited before marriage demonstrated more negative and less positive problem solving and support behaviors compared to spouses who did not cohabit. Sociodemographic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal functioning variables did not account for the association between cohabitation experience and marital communication.     

Cohabitation Duration and Transient Domesticity

Research finds that many impoverished urban Black adults engage in a pattern of partnering and family formation involving a succession of short cohabitations yielding children, a paradigm referred to as transient domesticity. Researchers have identified socioeconomic status, cultural adaptations, and urbanicity as explanations for aspects of this pattern. We used longitudinal data from the 2001 Survey of Income and Program Participation to analyze variation in cohabitation and marriage duration by race/ethnicity, income, and urban residence. Proportional hazards regression indicated that separation risk is greater among couples that are cohabiting, below 200% of the federal poverty line, and Black but is not greater among urban dwellers. This provides empirical demographic evidence to support the emerging theory of transient domesticity and suggests that both socioeconomic status and race explain this pattern. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding transient domesticity and make recommendations for using the Survey of Income and Program Participation to further study this family formation paradigm.     

The relationship of interpersonal acting-out to the process of decompensation

Summary This paper grew out of work in a psychiatric crisis clinic. It was noted that in individuals who characteristically use relationships as a defense against anxiety, decompensation may be triggered by a process in which the person who has been used as a protection against a threatening figure appears to become that figure.Decompensation in such cases can be arrested by quick and appropriate crisis intervention which may lead to restoration of the usual defenses or to a temporary resolution and referral for treatment of the characterological problems.     

Cohabitation in the Nordic countries

This article examines recent trends in nonmarital cohabitation in the Nordic countries. The data from the Nordic countries suggest that nonmarital cohabitation has moved from being a deviant phenomenon to an institutionalized pattern of entering family life.     

Serial Cohabitation and the Marital Life Course

Using cohort data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this paper tracks the experiences of serial cohabitors. Results indicate that only a minority of cohabiting women (about 15% – 20%) were involved in multiple cohabitations. Serial cohabitations were overrepresented among economically disadvantaged groups, especially those with low income and education. They also were less likely than single‐instance cohabiting unions to end in marriage rather than dissolve. If serial cohabitors married, divorce rates were very high — more than twice as high as for women who cohabited only with their eventual husbands. The results suggest the need to balance the government’s current preoccupation with marriage promotion with greater support of “at risk” unions that marriage promotion initiatives have helped create.     

Cohabitation and Marriage in a Risky World

Different couples are analyzed in presence of income uncertainty and precautionary saving. Married couples have legal restrictions on their relationship that force them to act cooperatively, while cohabitants with limited commitment act non-cooperatively. This makes risk sharing different for different couples; married couples share risk completely, while cohabitants share risk to a lesser extent due to their lack of commitment and cooperation. This makes precautionary savings greater for cohabitants than for married couples. However, cohabitants also tend to undersave to possibly increase assistance from their partner. However, mutual altruism mitigates the inefficiencies and enforces time consistent risk sharing among cohabitants.I am thankful to Jonas Agell, Sophia Grahn-Voorneveld, Peter Kooreman and to Mats Persson for valuable comments on an earlier version. I have also received useful comments from the editor and from two anonymous referees. Generous financial support from the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation and from Knut and Alice Wallenbergs Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.     

The Stability of Same‐Sex Cohabitation,Different‐Sex Cohabitation,and Marriage

This study contributes to the emerging demographic literature on same‐sex couples by comparing the level and correlates of union stability among 4 types of couples: (a) male same‐sex cohabitation, (b) female same‐sex cohabitation, (c) different‐sex cohabitation, and (d) different‐sex marriage. The author analyzed data from 2 British birth cohort studies: the National Child Development Study (N = 11,469) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (N = 11,924). These data contain retrospective histories of same‐sex and different‐sex unions throughout young adulthood (age 16–34) from 1974 through 2004. Event‐history analyses showed that same‐sex cohabitations have higher rates of dissolution than do different‐sex cohabiting and marital unions. Among same‐sex couples, male couples had slightly higher dissolution rates than did female couples. In addition, same‐sex couples from the 1958 and 1970 birth cohorts had similar levels of union stability. The demographic correlates of union stability are generally similar for same‐sex and different‐sex unions.     

Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution in Postreform China

The author uses cohabitation data from the 2010 Chinese Family Panel Studies to analyze the association of premarital cohabitation with subsequent divorce of first marriage. After balancing selection factors that influence premarital cohabitation through propensity score matching, the author uses Cox proportional hazards models to examine the selection, causation, and diffusion perspectives on the relationship between premarital cohabitation and marital dissolution. The results show that premarital cohabitation is positively associated with divorce for those married in the early‐reform period (1980–1994) when cohabitation was uncommon. However, this relationship disappears for those married in the late‐reform period (1995–2010) when cohabitation became more prevalent. The findings suggest variation in the link between premarital cohabitation and divorce across different marriage cohorts and provide strong evidence for the diffusion perspective in postreform China. Supplemental sensitivity analyses support the robustness of the conclusion.     

Policy and research issues for small assisted living facilities

Dramatic growth in Assisted Living (AL) has resulted in increasing research and policy interest. This analysis compares smaller and larger AL facilities in four states to determine whether extant measures of four key concepts, used to distinguish the AL sector, give advantage to larger facilities. Quantitative comparisons predominantly show differences favorable to larger facilities; qualitative information raises the prospect that current measures overlook beneficial aspects of smaller facilities. If small facilities are included under the AL banner. both policy provisions and quality assessment must be carefully crafted to avoid placing small homes in funding and oversight jeopardy as AL develops.     

Innovation by nonprofit organizations: Policy and research issues

It is often claimed that a main reason public authorities and others use nonprofit organizations is that nonprofit organizations are innovative. But very little research has been conducted into innovative behavior by nonprofit organizations. How, then, does a funder formulate a policy with which to select innovative organizations? This article develops a classification matrix for types of innovations, sets out the elements of an innovation policy for a funder, and uses a review of the main theories of the spurs and inhibitions to innovation to consider how this ordering can be used in the construction of an innovation policy and as a framework for research.     

The relationship between problematic internet use and interpersonal cognitive distortions and life satisfaction in university students

Objective

The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between problematic internet use by college students and interpersonal cognitive distortions and life satisfaction.

Methods

A total of 418 students, 260 females and 158 males, studying in different departments of the Fatih Faculty of Education, Karadeniz Technical University, participated. The Online Cognition Scale, Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions Scale, Life Satisfaction Scale and Personal Information Form were used as instruments.

Results

A significant positive correlation was determined between problematic internet use and interpersonal cognitive distortions (r = .33, p < .01), and a negative one with life satisfaction (r = − .21, p < .01). Interpersonal cognitive distortions, life satisfaction and gender account for 21% of total variance (F₍₃₄₁₃₎ = 37.30, p < .05). Findings revealed that males exhibit more problematic internet use than females, which subjects with a pessimistic perception of events have a higher level of problematic internet use than those with an optimistic perception and that subjects who always feel lonely exhibit greater problematic internet use than those who never or only sometimes experience feelings of loneliness.

Conclusions

Interpersonal cognitive distortions, life satisfaction and gender were significant predictors of problematic internet use. Problematic internet use exhibits significant variations according to gender, perception of events and feelings of loneliness.     

The Role of Cohabitation in Remarriage

Using 3 subsamples of remarried respondents (n =1,583, 971, and 926) in the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study investigates how different types of cohabitation, especially postdivorce cohabitation, affect the timing and quality of remarriage in the United States. Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis indicates that postdivorce cohabitation in general and postdivorce cohabitation with multiple partners in particular delay remarriage. Furthermore, echoing previous research findings on the relationship between premarital cohabitation and relationship quality, the ordered logistic analysis shows that postdivorce cohabitation with a spouse is associated with lower levels of remarital happiness, and postdivorce cohabitation of all types tends to be associated with higher levels of remarital instability. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.     

Premarital Cohabitation and the Timing of First Marriage*

L'engouement soudain et récent à l'égard de l'union libre avant le mariage au Canada et dans les pays occidentaux industrialisés est un phénomène sans précédent. Cet article étudie le rôle de l'union de fait en tant qu'élément déterminant de la transition vers un premier mariage. Les données historiques de l'Enquête sociale générale de 1990 ont révélé que l'union de fait retarde le moment du premier mariage d'environ 26% chez les femmes et de 19% chez les hommes. Cette caractéristique reste importante et signifiante après correction du facteur de sélectivité relative à l'union de fait. L'analyse prouve également qu'il existe un phénomène d'autosélection en faveur de l'union de fait. Il semble que l'expérience de l'union libre en tant que telle influe sur les attitudes des individus à l'égard du mariage et diminue leur propension à se marier. The recent surge in premarital cohabitation in Canada and other Western industrial countries is unprecedented. This paper examines the role of cohabitational experiences as a determinant of the transition to first marriage. Using union history data from the 1990 General Social Survey, I find that cohabitational experiences delay the timing of first marriage by about 26% for women and 19% for men. This effect remains substantial and significant after I correct for the selectivity of cohabitation. The analysis also reveals evidence of selection into cohabitation. It appears that the experience of cohabiting itself affects the attitudes of individuals toward marriage and decreases their propensity to marry.