Socioeconomic differentials in divorce risk by duration of marriage

Using register-based data on Finnish first marriages that were intact at the end of 1990 (about 2.1 million marriage-years) and followed up for divorce in 1991-1993 (n = 21,204), this research explored the possibility that the effect of spouses' socioeconomic position on divorce risk varies according to duration of marriage. The comparatively high divorce risks for spouses with little formal education and for spouses in manual worker occupations were found to be specific to marriages of relatively short duration. In contrast, such factors as unemployment, wife's high income, and living in a rented dwelling were found to increase divorce risk at all marital durations.divorce, Finland, life course, marital disruption, registers, socio-economic

A review of the antecedents of union dissolution

The question of what factors contribute to the stability of coresidential partnerships has attracted the attention of many social scientists. This study summarizes recent research on the determinants of union dissolution within a set of substantive themes. Special emphasis is placed on the past two decades of research. European as well as American contributions are considered.antecedents, determinants, dissolution, divorce, Europe, review, separation, union dissolution

Divorce by family composition and socioeconomic status in Finnish first marriages

This is the first report of a research project that focuses on the impact of socioeconomic factors on divorce risk in the context of other determinants. In this paper; divorce risk differentials are examined by two measures of family composition and various indicators of spouses' socioeconomic status. Divorce risk differentials are described also by two temporal variables; which are used as control variables in the other analyses. This is a register-based follow-up study, covering Finnish first marriages which were intact at the end of 1990 and judicial divorces between l 991 and l 993. A piecewise exponential hazards model is used. When the temporal factors were recontrolled for; divorce risk increased with increasing age of the youngest child, and divorce risk decreased with increasing numbers of children in the family in every age group of the youngest child. Also, when the temporal factors were held constant, socioeconomic status was inversely related to divorce risk, when socioeconomic status was measured by either of the spouses' education, occupational class or economic activity, husbands income or housing tenure

Erkanevia elämänkulkuja? Sosiaalisen aseman yhteys lasten perhemuotoihin

Tutkimuskirjallisuudessa keskustellaan yhä enemmän hyvä- ja huono-osaisiin perheisiin syntyvien lasten ’erkanevista elämänkuluista’ (’diverging destinies’). On arveltu, että elämänkulkujen erkaneminen olisi pohjoismaisissa hyvinvointivaltioissa vähäistä. Tutkimuksemme kuitenkin näyttää, että lasten perhemuodoissa ja -kokemuksissa esiintyy Suomessa valtavia sosioekonomisia eroja. Vähän koulutettujen äitien lapsista huomattava osa syntyy yksinhuoltajaäidille, ja jos äiti on avo- tai avioliitossa, liitto useimmiten purkautuu ennen lapsen 16. ikävuotta. Vähän koulutettujen äitien lapset asuvat molempien vanhempiensa kanssa lapsuusvuosistaan keskimäärin puolet; korkeasti koulutettujen äitien lapset taas keskimäärin neljä viidesosaa. Pohjoismaisten lasten sosiodemografista eriarvoisuutta on tutkittava enemmän. Yhteiskuntapolitiikan tärkeä tavoite on, etteivät lasten perhemuotojen eroavaisuudet johda sosiaalisen eriarvoisuuden kasvuun. </p

From never partnered to serial cohabitors: union trajectories to childlessness

[Background:] Childlessness has increased in many European countries. Partnerships and parenthood are obviously closely related, but there is relatively little knowledge on how childlessness is linked to contemporary union dynamics that involve high rates of separation and unmarried cohabitation. [Objective:] To situate (biological) childlessness in longitudinal dynamics of union formation and stability, we take a life-course approach to union trajectories that consist of states entered via the formation and dissolution of cohabitations and marriages. Concretely, we identify groups of similar union trajectories of individuals between the ages of 18 and 39 who are childless at age 42. [Methods: We analyse register data on Finnish men and women born in 1969 and 1970 (childless N=3,241) with sequence, cluster, and multinomial logistic regression methods. [Results:] Four clusters of typical union trajectories were identified among the childless and assigned these labels: 1) Never Partnered (45%), characterized by never having entered a coresidential partnership, or just having entered a cohabitation near age 40; 2) Briefly Cohabited (25%), characterized by mostly living single after a brief cohabitation spell; 3) Cohabitors, Often Serial (19%), marked by typically discontinuous cohabitation; and 4) Married (11%). The Never-Partnered cluster is male-dominated. Men with a rural background and less-educated men and women are overrepresented among the Never-Partnered childless. [Conclusions:] For the great majority of the childless in our study cohorts, union trajectories are marked by either the (almost) complete absence of coresidential unions or fragmentary cohabitation histories. [Contribution:] The study contributes to the literature by showing that union histories, including never partnering as well as cohabitation instability, are key for understanding contemporary childlessness

Cash-for-Care Use and Union Dissolution in Finland

First published online: 17 November 2020Objective This study examines how the receipt of the cash-for-care (CFC) benefit affects short- and long-term risks of union dissolution.Background Several theories predict that couples' gendered division of labor decreases their risk of separation, either due to increased partnership satisfaction or because it establishes economic dependency. Family policies such as the Finnish CFC benefit, which is paid if a young child does not attend public daycare, may encourage such a gendered division of labor, at least temporarily.Method Using Finnish register data, this study analyzes the first childbearing unions of 38,093 couples between 1987 and 2009. Discrete-time event history analyses and fixed effects models for nonrepeated events are applied.Results The results suggest a lower separation risk while the benefit is received as compared to couples who do not use it, but no effect in the long-term. Fixed effects models that control for selection into CFC indicate postponement of separation until after take-up. Higher-income mothers show a stronger postponement effect, possibly due to greater income following leave.Conclusion CFC use, which signals a temporary gendered division of labor and losses in mothers' earnings, predicts a lower separation risk during receipt of the benefit, but not beyond.Implications Policies that affect the division of paid and unpaid labor at best only temporarily reduce dissolution risks

The increase in non-marital childbearing and its link to educational expansion

The increase in non-marital childbearing has coincided with educational expansion, although non-marital childbirths are more common among the low-educated population. This article quantifies the contribution of changes in education-specific rates of non-marital childbearing and educational distribution of parents to increases in non-marital childbearing among Finnish first-time parents over the period 1970–2009. Using Finnish register data on first-time mothers (N = 112,730) and fathers (N = 108,812), the study decomposes changes in the proportion of non-marital first childbearing in pairwise comparisons of successive decades for four educational segments: low educated (International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 0–2), medium educated (ISCED 3–4), lower tertiary educated (ISCED 5–6) and upper tertiary educated (ISCED 7–8). The findings show that the increase in non-marital first-time births was mainly attributable to the large population of medium-educated women and men and the growing segment of lower tertiary-educated women. The highest proportion of non-marital first-time childbearing remained among the low-educated population, but diminishing group size meant their overall contribution was small. The growing upper tertiary-educated population increased its contribution to non-marital childbearing but still exhibited the lowest non-marital childbearing rates. We conclude that the medium-educated population merits increased scholarly attention for its important contribution to population-level changes.</p