Volume 32 - Article 8 | Pages 251–286  

Why do intimate partners live apart? Evidence on LAT relationships across Europe

By Aart C. Liefbroer, Anne-Rigt Poortman, Judith Seltzer

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

Abstract

Background: Most research asks whether or not cohabitation has come to rival marriage. Little is known about the meaning of living apart together (LAT) relationships, and whether LAT is an alternative to marriage and cohabitation or a dating relationship.

Objective: We examine across Europe: (1) the prevalence of LAT, (2) the reasons for LAT, and (3) the correlates of (a) LAT relationships vis-à-vis being single, married, or cohabiting, and (b) different types of LAT union.

Methods: Using Generations and Gender Survey data from ten Western and Eastern European countries, we present descriptive statistics about LATs and estimate multinominal logistic regression models to assess the correlates of being in different types of LAT unions.

Results: LAT relationships are uncommon, but they are more common in Western than Eastern Europe. Most people in LAT unions intend to live together but are apart for practical reasons. LAT is more common among young people, those enrolled in higher education, people with liberal attitudes, highly educated people, and those who have previously cohabited or been married. Older people and divorced or widowed persons are more likely to choose LAT to maintain independence. Surprisingly, attitudinal and educational differences are more pronounced in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe.

Conclusions: A tentative conclusion is that LAT is more often a stage in the union formation process than an alternative to marriage and cohabitation. Yet some groups do view LAT as substituting for marriage and cohabitation, and these groups differ between East and West. In Eastern Europe a cultural, highly educated elite seems to be the first to resist traditional marriage norms and embrace LAT (and cohabitation) as alternative living arrangements, whereas this is less the case in Western Europe. In Western Europe, LAT unions are mainly an alternative for persons who have been married before or had children in a prior relationship.

Author's Affiliation

• Aart C. Liefbroer - Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut (NIDI), the Netherlands EMAIL
• Anne-Rigt Poortman - Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands EMAIL
• Judith Seltzer - University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Income pooling strategies among cohabiting and married couples: A comparative perspective
Volume 30 - Article 55

Religion and union dissolution: Effects of couple and municipal religiosity on divorce and separation
Volume 49 - Article 20

Parental socioeconomic status and the timing of first marriage: What is the role of unmarried cohabitation? Results from a cross-national comparison
Volume 45 - Article 15

Running out of time? Understanding the consequences of the biological clock for the dynamics of fertility intentions and union formation
Volume 40 - Article 1

Joint lifestyles and the risk of union dissolution: Differences between marriage and cohabitation
Volume 39 - Article 15

Editorial for Special Collection on New Relationships from a Comparative Perspective
Volume 37 - Article 2

The timing of parenthood and its effect on social contact and support
Volume 36 - Article 62

Generations and Gender Programme Wave 1 data collection: An overview and assessment of sampling and fieldwork methods, weighting procedures, and cross-sectional representativeness
Volume 34 - Article 18

European views of divorce among parents of young children: Understanding cross-national variation
Volume 27 - Article 2

Timing of first union among second-generation Turks in Europe: The role of parents, peers and institutional context
Volume 22 - Article 16

"Living Apart Together" relationships in the United States
Volume 21 - Article 7

Trends in living arrangements in Europe: Convergence or divergence?
Volume 19 - Article 36

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Is single parenthood increasingly an experience of less-educated mothers? A European comparison over five decades
Volume 51 - Article 34    | Keywords: age, children, cross-national comparison, education, Europe, family life course, inequality, single motherhood

The transition to adulthood in Europe at the intersection of gender and parental socioeconomic status
Volume 51 - Article 23    | Keywords: Europe, Europe, event history, event history, gender, multilevel analysis, parental socio-economic status, stratification, transition to adulthood

The intergenerational transmission of migration capital: The role of family migration history and lived migration experiences
Volume 50 - Article 29    | Keywords: childhood, emigration, Europe, immigration, life course

Measuring the educational gradient of period fertility in 28 European countries: A new approach based on parity-specific fertility estimates
Volume 49 - Article 34    | Keywords: education, Europe, period fertility, quantum, tempo, total fertility rate (TFR)

Calculating contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning in low-fertility countries with the Generations and Gender Survey
Volume 49 - Article 21    | Keywords: cross-national study, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Europe, family planning, Fertility and Family Survey (FFS), Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), longitudinal data, panel data, unplanned births, World Fertility Survey