Volume 35 - Article 1 | Pages 1–30  

Partnership formation and dissolution among immigrants in the Spanish context

By Amparo González-Ferrer, Tina Hannemann, Teresa Castro Martín

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

Abstract

Background: The diversification of partnership patterns away from the traditional marriage standard emerged in Spain relatively late. This makes Spain an interesting case for the study of the partnership dynamics of natives and immigrant groups.

Objective: This paper analyzes partnership formation and dissolution among immigrant women of various origins, in comparison to natives in Spain. The study aims to identify variations in timing and incidence of partnership transitions.

Methods: Data from the Fertility and Values Survey 2006 is used to conduct discrete-time logistic regressions for several union transitions. In a further step, the data are analyzed including cohort interactions to explore the extent to which differences are due to the younger profile of the migrant population.

Results: The obtained results lend support to the selection and disruption hypotheses in the case of immigrant women who arrived in Spain before their first union formation. However, when explaining the high propensity of Latin American and EU-15 women to enter cohabiting unions, socialization effects cannot be ruled out. Immigrant women also show higher risk of union dissolution than natives.

Conclusions: Immigrant women differ consistently from native Spanish women across the various partnership transitions. They generally display higher risks of forming a union, particularly a cohabiting union, and of separating from their first partner. Models including interactions between birth cohort and migrant status showed that differentials between immigrants and natives are not due to compositional effects.

Author's Affiliation

• Amparo González-Ferrer - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain EMAIL
• Tina Hannemann - University of Manchester, United Kingdom EMAIL
• Teresa Castro Martín - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

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

Mixed marriages between immigrants and natives in Spain: The gendered effect of marriage market constraints
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Social policies, separation, and second birth spacing in Western Europe
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Childbearing patterns among immigrant women and their daughters in Spain: Over-adaptation or structural constraints
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A decade of life-course research on fertility of immigrants and their descendants in Europe
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What drives Senegalese migration to Europe? The role of economic restructuring, labor demand, and the multiplier effect of networks
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Introduction to research on immigrant and ethnic minority families in Europe
Volume 35 - Article 2

The contributions of childbearing within marriage and within consensual union to fertility in Latin America, 1980-2010
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