Volume 32 - Article 5 | Pages 147–182  

The reproductive context of cohabitation in comparative perspective: Contraceptive use in the United States, Spain, and France

By Megan Sweeney, Teresa Castro Martín, Melinda Mills

This article is part of the Special Collection 19 "New Relationships from a Comparative Perspective"

Abstract

Background: Discussions 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.

Objective: We 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.

Methods: Using 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: Net 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.

Author's Affiliation

• Megan Sweeney - University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America EMAIL
• Teresa Castro Martín - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain EMAIL
• Melinda Mills - University of Oxford, United Kingdom EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Female sterilization in the life course: Understanding trends and differentials in early sterilization
Volume 47 - Article 18

Reconsidering (in)equality in the use of IUDs in the United States: A closer look across the reproductive life course
Volume 43 - Article 35

Three facets of planning and postponement of parenthood in the Netherlands
Volume 43 - Article 23

Mixed marriages between immigrants and natives in Spain: The gendered effect of marriage market constraints
Volume 39 - Article 1

Change and continuity in the fertility of unpartnered women in Latin America, 1980–2010
Volume 38 - Article 51

Social policies, separation, and second birth spacing in Western Europe
Volume 37 - Article 37

Childbearing patterns among immigrant women and their daughters in Spain: Over-adaptation or structural constraints
Volume 37 - Article 19

Partnership formation and dissolution among immigrants in the Spanish context
Volume 35 - Article 1

The contributions of childbearing within marriage and within consensual union to fertility in Latin America, 1980-2010
Volume 34 - Article 29

Single motherhood and low birthweight in Spain: Narrowing social inequalities in health?
Volume 22 - Article 27

Is Latin America starting to retreat from early and universal childbearing?
Volume 20 - Article 9

Women’s changing socioeconomic position and union formation in Spain and Portugal
Volume 19 - Article 41

Not truly partnerless: Non-residential partnerships and retreat from marriage in Spain
Volume 18 - Article 16

Gender equity and fertility intentions in Italy and the Netherlands
Volume 18 - Article 1

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Lowest low fertility in Spain: Insights from the 2018 Spanish Fertility Survey
Volume 51 - Article 19    | Keywords: fertility desires, low fertility, Spain

Between money and intimacy: Brideprice, marriage, and women’s position in contemporary China
Volume 50 - Article 46    | Keywords: brideprice, China, divorce, family, family law, gender inequalities, marriage

Predictive utility of key family planning indicators on dynamic contraceptive outcomes: Results from longitudinal surveys in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Uganda, and Côte d'Ivoire
Volume 50 - Article 45    | Keywords: contraception, contraceptive adoption, contraceptive discontinuation, contraceptive use, family planning, longitudinal data, methods, panel data, Performance and Monitoring for Action (PMA) surveys, sub-Saharan Africa

Decomposition analysis of disparities in infant mortality rates across 27 US states
Volume 50 - Article 40    | Keywords: decomposition, health disparities, infant mortality, United States of America

Age-heterogamous partnerships: Prevalence and partner differences by marital status and gender composition
Volume 50 - Article 23    | Keywords: age heterogamy, assortative mating, cohabitation, marriage, same-sex couples, unions