Authors: Sandra Buchler, Janeen Baxter, Michele Haynes, and Mark Western.
Overview
In a twenty-year period, from 1982 to 2006, the proportion of all couples cohabiting in Australia rose from 4.7 percent to 14.9 percent (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2008). This represents a substantial shift in patterns of family formation. Not only are more people living in cohabiting relationships, but it is also becoming the norm to live in such a relationship either instead of or before committing to marriage. Over 75% of couples now live together prior to marriage compared to only 16 percent in 1976 (Dempsey & De Vaus, 2004). We use data from Wave 1 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to investigate how cohabiting couples differ from people of other marital statuses on a number of demographic measures. We also examine whether it is possible to identify distinct groups within the category of cohabiting. We find that cohabiting couples differ from married, single, and separated, divorced, or widowed people on a number of measures, such as age, religiosity, ethnic background, education, income, and fertility intentions. Furthermore, we devise a typology of cohabiting couples which is supported by our results, indicating that there are distinct groups within the category of ‘cohabiting’, which suggests that it is important not to view cohabiters as a homogenous group. The paper concludes that the recent rise in cohabiting relationships, and diversity amongst these groups, is a reflection of the fundamental changes in patterns of family formation and the changing status of marriage in the life course.
Key Words: Cohabitation, de facto relationships, typology, marriage, demographics.
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