Volume 18 - Article 16 | Pages 443-468

Not truly partnerless: Non-residential partnerships and retreat from marriage in Spain

By Teresa Castro Martin, Marta Domínguez-Folgueras, Teresa Martín-García


Date received:	15 Oct 2007
Date published:	06 Jun 2008
Word count:	6129
Keywords:	cohabitation, LAT, partnerships, Spain, union formation
DOI:	10.4054/DemRes.2008.18.16

Abstract

In Spain, nearly two-thirds of women aged 20-34 have not yet entered their first union. However, almost half of them have a stable partner in a different household. Hence, the drop in marriage rates and low prevalence of cohabitation cannot be rightly interpreted as a decline in partnership formation, but rather as a postponement of co-residential unions. This paper examines the prevalence and determinants of non-residential stable partnerships among young adults (women aged 20-34), in relation to cohabitation and marriage, using a multinomial logit model of current partnership type. The analysis is based on data from the 1999 Spanish Fertility Survey.

Author's Affiliation

Teresa Castro Martin - Spanish National Research Council, Spain [Email]
Marta Domínguez-Folgueras - Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain [Email]
Teresa Martín-García - Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain [Email]