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Splitting Up or Getting Married?

Competing Risk Analysis of Transitions Among Cohabiting Couples in Sweden

Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands, guy.moors{at}uvt.nl

Eva Bernhardt

Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, eva.bernhardt{at}sociology.su.se

In this article, we investigate which ideational variables influence the propensity of cohabiting couples to transform their union into marriage, separation or continued cohabitation. The question is particularly relevant in the Swedish context of considerable social acceptance of unmarried cohabitation even among parents. A two-wave panel study including 705 never-married respondents cohabiting at the time of the first survey shows that ideational factors influence subsequent behaviour, even when different sets of control variables are included in the model. Familistic attitudes, work-related values and reflections about the quality of the relationship prove to be predictors of the transition to either marriage or separation even when intentions are taken into account.

Key Words: attitudes • cohabitation • evaluations • intentions • marriage • reasoned action • second demographic transition • separation

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Acta Sociologica, Vol. 52, No. 3, 227-247 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0001699309339800


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Moors, G. Articles by Bernhardt, E. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?