Volume 7 - Article 18 | Pages 593–624
Cohabiting unions in France and West Germany: Transitions to first birth and first marriage
Abstract
This paper compares the non-marital birth pattern in France and West Germany. Since the beginning of the eighties, France witnessed a steady increase in non-marital birth rates, while in West Germany non-marital birth rates have remained at a relatively low level. We attribute these differences to the institutional and legal constraints from both sides of the Rhine which hamper or foster childbearing in cohabiting unions.
Using data from the French and German Family and Fertility Survey, we apply event history modeling to the transition to marriage and first birth. Our results indicate a polarization of family forms in both countries. In West Germany, we find a polarization in a "family sector" and a "non-family sector" while in France there is a polarization in a "marriage sector" and a "cohabiting sector".
Author’s Affiliation
- Jean-Marie Le Goff - Université de Lausanne, Switzerland EMAIL
Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research
The partnership context of first parenthood – and how it varies by parental class and birth cohort in the United Kingdom
Volume 53 - Article 16
| Keywords:
cohabitation,
cohort analysis,
event history,
event history analysis,
family formation,
intergenerational inequality,
marriage,
parental socio-economic status,
parenthood,
single parenthood,
United Kingdom
Gendered labor market adjustments around marital and cohabiting union transitions during Europe’s early cohabitation diffusion
Volume 53 - Article 15
| Keywords:
adult equivalent household income,
cohabitation,
employment income,
gender inequalities,
hours worked,
intra-household specialization,
marriage,
union transitions
The partnership, fertility, and employment trajectories of immigrants in the United Kingdom: An intersectional life course approach using three-channel sequence analysis
Volume 53 - Article 10
| Keywords:
employment,
fertility,
immigrants,
multi-channel sequence analysis,
partnership,
United Kingdom
Where do we go from here? Partnership-parenthood trajectories of cohabitation as first union during young adulthood in the United States
Volume 53 - Article 9
| Keywords:
cohabitation,
family inequality,
fertility,
marriage,
race/ethnicity,
transition to adulthood,
union formation,
United States of America
Fertility differences across immigrant generations in the United Kingdom
Volume 52 - Article 33
| Keywords:
event history analysis,
fertility,
immigrant,
second generation,
United Kingdom
Download to Citation Manager
PubMed
Google Scholar