Modeling the Determinants of Time-to-Premarital Cohabitation among Women of Ethiopia: A Comparison of Various Parametric Shared Frailty Models

Background: Premarital cohabitation is defined as the state of living together and having a sexual relationship without being married. It has become more prevalent globally in recent decades. The main objective of this study was modeling the potential risk factors of time-to-premarital cohabitation among women of Ethiopia by using parametric shared frailty models where regional states of the women were used as a clustering effect in the models.Methods: The data source for the analysis was the 2016 EDHS data. The Gamma and Inverse-Gaussian shared frailty distributions with Exponential, Weibull, Log-logistic and Lognormal baseline models were employed to analyze risk factors associated with age at premarital cohabitation. All the fitted models were compared by using AIC values.Results: The median age of women at premarital cohabitation was 18 years. Based on AIC values, Log-logistic-Gamma shared frailty model has smallest AIC value among the models compared. The clustering effect was significant for modeling the determinants of time-to-premarital cohabitation dataset. The results showed that women’s education status, occupation, pregnancy and place of residence were found to be the most significant determinants of age at premarital cohabitation whereas wealth status and religion were not significant at 5% level.Conclusions: The Log-logistic-Gamma shared frailty model described the premarital cohabitation dataset better than other distributions used in this study. There is heterogeneity between the regions of women. Further studies should be conducted to identify other factors of age at premarital cohabitation of women in Ethiopia that were not included in this study.

Marriage in the U.S.: Twenty-five Years of Change, 1995-2020

The marriage rate in the U.S. has fallen over the last 25 years, while the rate of premarital cohabitation has increased (Cherlin 2020; FP-17-05). In 1995, the marriage rate was about 45 per 1,000 women, falling to about 31 per 1,000 women by 2020 (FP-20-21). Using data from the 1995 and 2020 Current Population Survey, this family profile investigates 25 years of change in marriage among women aged 18-49. Updating FP-15-17, the profile also examines variation in the share of women ever married by age, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment.

“Not Just Me Anymore.” A Qualitative Study of Transitioning to Marriage after Cohabitation

Premarital cohabitation could influence the transition to marriage by cultivating the belief that getting married will have little effect on a relationship that has already taken root through cohabitation. Yet uncertainty about a relationship could influence cohabiting couples to hold back some investment in their relationship until marriage. This qualitative study of 36 individuals (18 newlywed couples) investigated the transition from cohabitation to marriage by focusing on perceived differences between premarital cohabitation and marriage while adjusting to being married. Newlyweds typically identified changes and they were often unexpected. Several themes emerged pertaining to the deepening and solidifying of the relationship and changes in approaching conflict. Marital permanence was an overarching metatheme that was reflected throughout the findings. Results are discussed in the context of relationship certainty, investment, and delayed dedication. Implications for the potential of cohabitation to mirror marriage are discussed.

Mijn partner is (g)een vreemde vogel : Endogamie en relatieontbinding in België

Voorgaand onderzoek naar de rol van partnerkeuze in relatieontbinding toont aan dat partners die afkomstig zijn uit verschillende herkomstgroepen doorgaans een hogere kans hebben om uit elkaar te gaan. Deze onderzoeken focussen zich echter voornamelijk op huwelijken en het blijft daarom onduidelijk of dezelfde dynamieken zich ook aftekenen binnen ongehuwd samenwonende koppels en wat de rol is van voorhuwelijks samenwonen. Dit artikel bestudeert de samenhang tussen partnerkeuze en relatieontbinding voor een steekproef van koppels die voor de eerste keer huwden of ongehuwd gingen samenwonen tussen 1999 en 2001. De data zijn afkomstig uit de Belgische Kruispuntbank voor Sociale Zekerheid en geven informatie over de ontbindingskansen van gehuwd en ongehuwd samenwonende koppels met minstens één partner van Belgische, Zuid‐Europese, Turkse, Marokkaanse, Congolese, Burundese of Rwandese afkomst. Aan de hand van survival analyse en multivariate event history modellen gaat dit onderzoek na of ontbindingskansen verschillen tussen endogame en gemengde koppels en of deze dynamieken gelijkaardig zijn over de verschillende relatietypes heen. De resultaten geven aan dat endogame koppels de laagste ontbindingskansen hebben als het gaat om een huwelijk zonder substantiële periode van voorhuwelijks samenwonen. Voor koppels die ongehuwd samenwonen of huwden na een periode van ongehuwd samenwonen zien we dit patroon echter niet terugkomen en zijn verschillen naar partnerkeuze beperkter of zijn het net de gemengde koppels die lagere ontbindingskansen hebben. Na controle voor relevante achtergrondkenmerken blijkt vooral voor gemengde koppels de kans op relatieontbinding sterk te verschillen naar relatietype. Abstract : Previous studies on the role of partner choice in relationship dissolution have shown that partners who come from different ethnic groups usually have a higher chance of separating. However, these studies focus on marriages and it therefore remains unclear whether the same dynamics can be seen in unmarried cohabiting couples or what the exact role of this period of premarital cohabitation is. This article examines the relationship between partner choice and relationship dissolution in a sample of couples who married for the first time or started living together without being married between 1999 and 2001. The data comes from the Belgian Crossroads Bank of Social Security and give information on union dissolution among married and unmarried cohabiting couples with at least one partner of Belgian, Southern European, Turkish, Moroccan, Congolese, Burundian or Rwandan descent. Based on survival analysis and multivariate event history models, this study examines whether dissolution chances differ between endogamous and mixed couples and whether or not these dynamics are different across relationship types. The results indicated that endogamous couples have the lowest chance of dissolution when it comes to marriages without a substantial period of premarital cohabitation. For couples who were unmarried cohabiting or married after a period of unmarried cohabitation, we did not find this pattern and differences in partner choice are more limited or we observe the mixed couples to have elevated dissolution chances. After checking for relevant background characteristics it turns out that especially for mixed couples, the chance of relationship dissolution appears to differ strongly according to relationship type.