Children’s Living Arrangements after Marital and Cohabitation Dissolution in Europe
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Journal of Family Issues |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0192513X20923721 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0192513X20923721 |
| Keywords | cohabitation; divorce/separation; post-dissolution living arrangements; marriage; physical custody |
| Attached files | |
| Description | The rapid increase of the number of children being born in cohabitation appears to have an important impact on their lives, since they face a higher risk of parental breakup than children born in wedlock. This article aims to provide a cross-national overview of the living arrangements of children following breakup of cohabiting unions and to investigate whether the post-dissolution living arrangements differ between formerly cohabiting and married families. Analyzing the first wave of Generations and Gender Survey for 9 European countries shows that former cohabiters are not more or less likely to establish shared physical custody of their children than formerly married couples; however, formerly cohabiting fathers are somehow less likely to have sole custody of their children. The lower odds of sole-father custody among former cohabiters are caused by the selection of individuals into cohabiting unions (i.e., different demographic characteristics of cohabiting parents and union duration). |
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