Chapter 4

Question 1

non-marital cohabitation (historic pov to today’s pov)

Answer 1

• historically, marriage would be next step (cohabiting without getting married meant that you had undesireable traits - you couldn’t commit)
• cohabitation has moved from being viewed as a deviant form of union formation to the preferred social norm that precedes marriage

Question 2

rise in cohabitation

Answer 2

• in the 60’s and 70’s, cohabitation before marriage was rare (10%), in the 90’s it was more common (55%)
• in Canada, 12% of unions were non-marital (except Quebec - 30%)

Question 3

historical context causing change from marriage to cohabitation

Answer 3

• labour markets (women are now in the workforce and don’t need to marry for economic stability)
• educational norms
• secularization of society (religions push marriage, so if our society becomes less religious, marriage is pushed less)
• feminist movement, availability of birth control, sexual revolution, and reduced stigma of single parenthood
• rapid rise in divorce rate (1/3 of couples divorce)

Question 4

necessity of marriage historically

Answer 4

• marriage happened out of economic necessity rather than being based on attraction
• women relied on men to protect and provide for them and their children
• men relied on women for childcare and meal prep
• children were economic assets who provided additional labour for household needs
• industrial revolution broke this economic dependency

Question 5

technological context for sexual freedom

Answer 5

• tech increases freedom and autonomy from parental monitoring, making courtship and sexual exploration easier
• in 1920, the car; in 2010, the cell phone

Question 6

Canadian cohabitation context

Answer 6

• cohabitation highly influenced by context
• Canada is a multicultural bilingual country with a tolerance for diverse ethnic traditions
• cohabitation is much more socially acceptable in Quebec (and amongst Aboriginal groups) and as a result more prevalent than in other parts of Canada
• the longer the cohabitation lasts, the more likely children will be present

Question 7

3 main results of cohabitation studies

Answer 7

• the more cohabitation is accompanied by fertility, the more it will resemble and compete with marriage as a preferred form of family formation
• cohabitation before marriage still has higher rates of relationship breakups (but this is starting to change)
• normativeness of cohabitation affects a variety of family transition events such as fertility, stability, and formation patterns

Question 8

why do cohabitors tend to break up?

Answer 8

• each partner has different ideas about what the cohabitation means
• the couple may be less religious and therefore can easily get divorced
• because cohabitation is like a marriage trial, partners may have doubts about whether each other would be good spouses
• takes away from excitement of being married -> you’ve already had “the newlywed experience”

Question 9

diffusion’s role in cohabitation

Answer 9

• you’ll have early adopters and late adopters, with the general population fitting in between those 2 extremes
• as cohabitation becomes more common, distinctions between those who cohabit before marriage and those who don’t will diminish

Question 10

international rates of cohabitation

Answer 10

• Fairly common in some parts of Europe
• Rare in Eastern Europe, Asia, North Africa, South Asia, and the Philippines
• Common in Latin America (ie. Brazil) and poorer central American countries (ie. Carribean, Haiti, Jamaica) - due to poverty, it makes sense to live together and pool resources

Question 11

international cohabitation legislations

Answer 11

• different countries have different legislation regarding cohabitation
• almost all nations have REGISTERED PARTNERSHIP LEGISLATION -> provides marriage equivalent status and protection (though not always available for same-sex couples)
• cohabitation benefits (ie. health insurance) vary across nations
• definition of cohabitation varies

Question 12

common-law marriages

Answer 12

• couples who are in a marriage-like relationship, but without the ceremony
• not synonymous with cohabitation

Question 13

what constitutes official cohabitation

Answer 13

• ongoing sexual relations
• duration of cohabitation
• holding of a joint living address

Question 14

legal tools for asset protection and estate planning for cohabitors

Answer 14

• cohabitation agreements
• domestic partnership agreements
• power of attorney
• living wills
• health permission release forms
• without these, assets won’t automatically go to surviving partner (may go to parents, siblings, etc.)

Question 15

cohabitation agreements

Answer 15

• define limitations and boundaries of responsibility should the union dissolve
• often not recognized since they attempt to circumvent laws that protect distinctiveness of marriage (ie. DOMA)

Question 16

domestic partnerships

Answer 16

• provides marriage-equivalent status and protections

- have more legal recognition, but aren’t universal and aren’t always available to same-sex couples

Question 17

power of attorney

Answer 17

if something happens to you, your partner can decide what to do with your finances, assets, etc.

Question 18

living wills

Answer 18

your end of life requests

Question 19

health permission release forms

Answer 19

gives your partner permission to pull you off of life support or not, allow you to have treatment or not, etc.

Question 20

proactive strategies for child custody

Answer 20

• second parent adoption
• co-guardianship
• cohabitation agreement

Question 21

second-parent adoption

Answer 21

• adopting your step-children so that even if you and your partner break up, you still have custody
• limited to only a few states, and can only happen if their other biological parent is dead or has abandoned the kids

Question 22

co-guardianship

Answer 22

keeps all responsibilities of a legal parent (ex. Medical issues of child)

Question 23

reactive strategy for child custody

Answer 23

third-party visitation rights - long shot because it requires proof that legal parent is unfit

Question 24

5 criteria for assigning child custody

Answer 24

1. couple has resided together for significant period of time
2. parental relationship has been established between the child and the individual with no parental rights
3. parties have ended relationship
4. no traditional second legal parent
5. parent without parental rights has been alienated from child

Question 25

intergenerational cohabitation

Answer 25

• a parent’s religiosity, education, SES, marriage stability, family structure, etc. can influence child’s union formation and stability patterns (ex. people who grew up in a cohabiting-parent family more likely to cohabit)
• channeling hypothesis

Question 26

channeling hypothesis

Answer 26

parents want to steer their children towards certain beliefs and behaviours and will often channel their children into other supporting socialization opportunities (ex. control of child’s peer network, control of sports they play, etc.) - this can change their attitudes about cohabitation

Question 27

“sliders”

Answer 27

• no official discussion/decision to cohabit - just gradually get there by bringing more and more stuff to partner’s place
• associated with longer cohabitation period
• had significantly lower separation rate (due to lower/different expectations and less pressure put onto relationship)

Question 28

“deciders”

Answer 28

• use cohabitation as a screening process to weed out potentially unsuccessful relationships before marriage
• shorter cohabitation periods
• break up faster (higher expectations and pressure put on relationship because they’re thinking of progressing to next stage)

Question 29

cohabitation effect

Answer 29

• people who cohabit before marriage are more likely to get divorced
• as cohabitation becomes more normative, this may change

Question 30

birth control and the sexual revolution

Answer 30

• allowed people to become more liberal with their sexuality
• people treated sex as a fun activity rather than a symbol of a huge commitment to another person -> less people waited until marriage to have sex
• Reiss’s theory of autonomy

Question 31

Reiss’s theory of autonomy

Answer 31

• if youth culture stresses rewards of sexuality, youth will develop their own emphasis on sexuality
• autonomy of young people is key variable in determining how sexually permissive one will be

Question 32

why is cohabitation a good fit for today’s 20-something cohort?

Answer 32

• cohort is jaded by divorce
• sees 20’s as a time for no-strings-attached relationships rather than trying to find a life partner
• cohabitation allows for sexual relationships without large commitment

Question 33

Heuveline and Timberlake’s 6 typologies of cohabitation

Answer 33

1. marginal
2. prelude to marriage
3. transition stage
4. alternative to being single
5. alternative to marriage
6. indistinguishable from marriage

Question 34

marginal typology

Answer 34

low incidence of cohabitation, frowned upon by public attitudes and policies

Question 35

prelude to marriage typology

Answer 35

short cohabitations, end in marriage, precede children

Question 36

transition stage typology

Answer 36

longer cohabitations, have kids during cohabitation and marry shortly after their birth

Question 37

alternative to being single typology

Answer 37

brief, non-reproductive cohabitations, end in separation

Question 38

alternative to marriage typology

Answer 38

long cohabitations, less likely to get married, expose kids to cohabitation for longer periods

Question 39

indistinguishable from marriage typology

Answer 39

higher incidences of long-lasting cohabitation, children frequently exposed to cohabitation but for shorter times

Question 40

effects of cohabitation on marital stability

Answer 40

• women who cohabit are much more likely to break up than women who get married
• however, if you cohabit before marriage, stability is either improved or not affected
• may be due to religiosity and selection hypothesis

Question 41

selection hypothesis

Answer 41

people with fewer relationship skills or less commitment tend to cohabit -> explains later marital instability

Question 42

what kind of relationship is expected between post-cohabitation marital stability?

Answer 42

curvilinear relationship

Question 43

civil unions

Answer 43

• relationship status granted to same-sex couples when same-sex marriage is illegal
• grants couple same legal rights as married couples

Question 44

legal similarities and differences between married and cohabiting couples

Answer 44

• both have right to: spousal support, child support, child custody, dependant’s relief upon death of partner
• married couples have (while cohabitors don’t): equalization payment upon separation or death, unlimited time to apply for spousal support, possession of matrimonial home upon separation or death, succession rights if partner dies

Question 45

effects of cohabitation on children

Answer 45

• children born to cohabitors have less positive outcomes

- for teens: correlation with earlier sex, teen pregnancy, and lower rates of high school graduation

Question 46

why does cohabitation before marriage negatively affect later marital quality?

Answer 46

• selection effect
• experience effect
• cohabitation is associated with higher acceptance of divorce

Question 47

cohabitation and the elderly

Answer 47

• cohabitation is fastest-growing amongst elderly
• why? economic issues decrease attractiveness of marriage; less incentives to remarry
• cohabitation plays different role for older couples than younger ones