Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Role of Cohabitation in Premarital Childbearing

The research reported in this article focuses on the role of cohabitation in premarital childbearing among U.S. women. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households and the New York Fertility, Employment and Migration Survey, we examine the influence of cohabitation on the likelihoo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marriage and family 1996-02, Vol.58 (1), p.63-77
Main Authors: Manning, Wendy D., Landale, Nancy S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
African Americans
Age groups
Birth
Births to Single Women
Childbirth
Cohabitation
Conception
Cultural tradition
Differences
Ethnic Groups
Ethnicity
Family (Sociological Unit)
Family structure
Females
Hispanic Americans
Human Relations
Illegitimacy
Individual Differences
Interpersonal Relationship
Intimacy
Marital Status
Marriage
Mate Selection
Mate Selection and Cohabitation
Mexican Americans
Minority & ethnic groups
Minority Groups
Mothers
National Surveys
Pregnancy
Premarital intercourse
Puerto Ricans
Race
Racial Differences
Relationship
Sexuality
Sexuality. Marriage. Family relations
Single status
Single women
Social Life
Sociology
Sociology of the family. Age groups
State Surveys
U.S.A
Unions
United States
United States of America
White people
Whites
Women
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The research reported in this article focuses on the role of cohabitation in premarital childbearing among U.S. women. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households and the New York Fertility, Employment and Migration Survey, we examine the influence of cohabitation on the likelihood of premarital pregnancy and the decision to marry between premarital conception and birth. Our analyses show marked racial and ethnic differences in the role of the cohabiting union in family building. Although cohabitation increases the rate of premarital pregnancy for all women, its effect is much greater among Puerto Ricans than among non-Hispanic Whites and African Americans. Cohabitation accelerates the transition to marriage among premaritally pregnant White women, but has no effect among Blacks and has a strong negative effect among Puerto Ricans. We interpret our findings in terms of long-standing family patterns and cultural traditions within each group.
ISSN:0022-2445
1741-3737
DOI:10.2307/353377