Volume 33 - Article 10 | Pages 273–312  

Union formation and dissolution among immigrants and their descendants in the United Kingdom

By Tina Hannemann, Hill Kulu

This article is part of the Special Collection 18 "Partnership dynamics among immigrants and their descendants in Europe"

Abstract

Background: There is a growing literature on the dynamics of immigrant fertility and mixed marriages, but partnership transitions among immigrants and ethnic minorities are little studied.

Objective: This study investigates union formation and dissolution among immigrants and their descendants in the UK.

Methods: We use data from the Understanding Society study and apply the techniques of event history analysis. We contrast partnership trajectories of various immigrant groups and compare these with those of the 'native' British population.

Results: The analysis shows significant differences in partnership formation and dissolution among immigrants and ethnic minorities. Women of Caribbean origin have the highest cohabitation and the lowest marriage rates, whereas cohabitation remains rare among immigrants from South Asia and their descendants, as most of them marry directly. Immigrants from the Caribbean region and their descendants also show higher divorce rates than 'native' British women, whereas women of South Asian origin have a low divorce risk.

Author's Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

A decade of life-course research on fertility of immigrants and their descendants in Europe
Volume 40 - Article 46

Co-ethnic marriage versus intermarriage among immigrants and their descendants: A comparison across seven European countries using event-history analysis
Volume 39 - Article 17

Social policies, separation, and second birth spacing in Western Europe
Volume 37 - Article 37

Why does fertility remain high among certain UK-born ethnic minority women?
Volume 35 - Article 49

Introduction to research on immigrant and ethnic minority families in Europe
Volume 35 - Article 2

Union formation and fertility amongst immigrants from Pakistan and their descendants in the United Kingdom: A multichannel sequence analysis
Volume 48 - Article 10

Family life transitions, residential relocations, and housing in the life course: Current research and opportunities for future work: Introduction to the Special Collection on “Separation, Divorce, and Residential Mobility in a Comparative Perspective”
Volume 43 - Article 2

Separation, divorce, and housing tenure: A cross-country comparison
Volume 41 - Article 39

Homeownership after separation: A longitudinal analysis of Finnish register data
Volume 41 - Article 29

Union dissolution and housing trajectories in Britain
Volume 41 - Article 7

Partnership formation and dissolution among immigrants in the Spanish context
Volume 35 - Article 1

Premarital cohabitation and divorce: Support for the "Trial Marriage" Theory?
Volume 23 - Article 31

High Suburban Fertility: Evidence from Four Northern European Countries
Volume 21 - Article 31

Migration and union dissolution in a changing socio-economic context: The case of Russia
Volume 17 - Article 27

Fertility differences by housing type: The effect of housing conditions or of selective moves?
Volume 17 - Article 26

Family change and migration in the life course: An introduction
Volume 17 - Article 19

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Immigrant mortality advantage in the United States during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic
Volume 50 - Article 7    | Keywords: COVID-19, immigrants, mortality

Ultra-Orthodox fertility and marriage in the United States: Evidence from the American Community Survey
Volume 49 - Article 29    | Keywords: age at first marriage, American Community Survey (ACS), fertility, Judaism, marriage, religion, total fertility rate (TFR), Ultra-Orthodox Judaism

Partnership satisfaction in Czechia during the COVID-19 pandemic
Volume 49 - Article 24    | Keywords: COVID-19, family, pandemic, partnership, separation

Do couples who use fertility treatments divorce more? Evidence from the US National Survey of Family Growth
Volume 49 - Article 23    | Keywords: childbirth, divorce, fertility treatments, socioeconomic determinants

An alternative version of the second demographic transition? Changing pathways to first marriage in Japan
Volume 49 - Article 16    | Keywords: cohabitation, first marriages, pattern of disadvantage, premarital children, second demographic transition, transition