2015/01/01 by Megan M. Sweeney, Teresa Castro Martín, Melinda Mills +1 · 4 citations
Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cohabitation #Context (archaeology) #Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences #Demographic economics #Demography #Developed country #Economic growth #Economics #Economy #European union #Family Dynamics and Relationships #Family planning #Fertility #Gender studies #Geography #International trade #Law #National Survey of Family Growth #Perspective (graphical) #Political science #Population #Psychology #Public administration #Regional science #Reproductive Health and Contraception #Reproductive Health and Technologies #Reproductive behavior #Research methodology #Social psychology #Sociology #Survey data collection
paper · pdf · open access · doi:10.4054/demres.2015.32.5
published in DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) 32(1), 147-182 (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas)
openalex publication_date 2015/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
BACKGROUND \nDiscussions of cohabitation’s place in family formation regimes frequently emphasize comparisons of reproductive behavior among married versus cohabiting couples. Many argue that the rise in cohabitation may have been fueled by availability of highly effective contraception, but that differences in contraceptive use between married and cohabiting couples should diminish as cohabitation becomes more established. \nOBJECTIVE \nWe ask whether cohabiting women in the United States, Spain, and France are more likely than married women in these countries to use the most effective contraceptive methods and reversible methods. We also investigate whether the association between union status and contraceptive use has changed since the mid-1990s. \nMETHODS \nUsing data from the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth, the Spanish Fertility, Family and Values Survey, the French Gender and Generations Survey, and the Fertility and Family Surveys, we first descriptively compare contraceptive use patterns of cohabiting women to those of married women and then estimate regression models to adjust for group differences in key background factors. RESULTS \nNet of differences in age and parity, cohabitors were more likely than married women to use the most effective contraceptives in the mid-1990s’ United States and France, yet notably not in Spain even when cohabitation was relatively uncommon. The case of Spain thus refutes the assumption that highly effective contraception is a necessary precursor for dramatic growth in cohabitation.