The Stability of Same-Sex Cohabitation, Different-Sex Cohabitation, and Marriage

PWP-CCPR-2010-013

Abstract

This study contributes to the emerging demographic literature on same-sex couples by comparing the level and correlates of union stability among four types of couples: male same-sex cohabitation, female same-sex cohabitation, different-sex cohabitation, and different-sex marriage. I analyze data from two British birth cohort studies, the National Child Development Study (N = 11,469) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (N = 11,924). These data contain retrospective histories of same-sex and different-sex unions throughout young adulthood (age 16-34) from 1974-2004. Event history analyses show that same-sex cohabitations have higher rates of dissolution than do different-sex cohabiting and marital unions. Among same-sex couples, male couples had slightly higher dissolution rates than did female couples. In addition, same-sex couples from the 1958 and 1970 birth cohorts had similar levels of union stability. The demographic correlates of union stability are generally similar for same-sex and different-sex unions.