Discussion Papers no. 814

Children and union dissolution across four decades: Evidence from Norway

Increasingly stable or more stressful?

This study describes the association between having children and the risk of union disruption, and whether this association has changed over time. We expand upon previous research by including data on cohabiting as well as married couples, and by studying change over four decades.

This study describes the association between having children and the risk of union disruption, and whether this association has changed over time. We expand upon previous research by including data on cohabiting as well as married couples, and by studying change over four decades. We use data from the Norwegian Gender and Generation Study (2007) (N = 14 892). Combining self-reported union histories with register data on fertility histories, we construct a data set of person months for all individuals at risk of union dissolution in the period 1970-2007. Results from the event history analysis confirm that couples with children have lower union dissolution risk. Union dissolution risk is lowest when children are young, and also varies by number of children. There is little change over historical time in the correlation between having children and the risk of union dissolution. However, the monthly risk of dissolving unions increases substantially over time among childless as well as among parental couples.

About the publication

Title

Increasingly stable or more stressful?. Children and union dissolution across four decades: Evidence from Norway

Authors

Rannveig Kaldager Hart, Elina Vinberg, Torkild Hovde Lyngstad

Series and number

Discussion Papers no. 814

Publisher

Statistics Norway

ISSN

1892-753X

Number of pages

31

Language

English

About Discussion Papers

Discussion papers comprise research papers intended for international journals and books. A preprint of a Discussion Paper may be longer and more elaborate than a standard journal article as it may include intermediate calculations, background material etc.

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