Socioeconomic and cultural features of consensual unions in Brazil

Consensual unions are a well-known practice among the lower social strata in Latin America. However, this type of union is increasing in the region, among higher educated groups and in countries where they were never widespread, such as in Brazil. This study uses couples’ data from the demographic census available at IPUMS (N=193,689) to identify the socioeconomic and cultural features of consensual unions in Brazil. The effects of women’s education, couple’s income, children, and religion on nuptial behavior are analyzed. Utilizing logistic multilevel analysis, special attention is paid to the effect of differences in the cultural environment of states in the five major regions in which these unions occur. Results indicate that socioeconomic factors affect the incidence of consensual unions in Brazil. Consensual unions are more common among lower income couples and less educated women, but are also found among the upper classes. Cultural diversity between Brazilian states is also reflected in nuptial behavior. Significant variance at the state level is partially explained by the ethnic composition of each state.DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.20947/S0102-309820160004

Consensual unions in Serbia: 2011 census results

The rise of cohabitation is one of the most noticeable changes in partnership behavior in the past several decades, present throughout Europe, with great variation of prevalence across countries. Until now, the extent of consensual unions in Serbia has not been known due to the lack of data, except some very scarce information emanated from a very few surveys. The 2011 Census, for the first time, included the question on the de facto marital status. This enables insight into the prevalence of consensual unions, as well as on the characteristics of union members. The paper analyzes frequency of consensual unions, as well as characteristics of persons living in them, according to the sex, age, education, legal marital status, ethnicity, religious affiliation and type of settlement. Most of the consideration has been given to the regional level (NUTS 2). The paper also analyzes families of cohabiting couples with and without children. This is possible because the data for the families of cohabiting couples without children and cohabiting couples with children were shown separately for the first time in the 2011 Census.

Las uniones libres o consensuales en la frontera norte de México / Common Law Marriages and Consensual Unions on Mexico’s Northern Border

La formación de uniones libres o consensuales ha sido parte de la estructura conyugal de México por largo tiempo. Este tipo de uniones aumentó notablemente durante la última década en el país y en la región fronteriza del norte. Esta región presenta una interesante heterogeneidad porque en algunos estados la proporción de unión libre empata e incluso ya supera a la de los matrimonios, mientras que en otros tal proporción sigue siendo muy inferior a la de los matrimonios. Es interesante observar que una geografía que va de este a oeste y de sur a norte se dibuje siguiendo los niveles de menores a mayores proporciones de uniones libres en la región. AbstractThe formation of common law marriages and consensual unions has long been part of the marital structure of Mexico. This type of unions increased markedly during the last decade in Mexico including its northern border region. This region is intriguing-ly heterogeneous because in some states the proportion of cohabitation is as high as or even higher than that of marriages, whereas in others this proportion is still much lower than that of marriages. It is interesting to note that the levels of lower to higher proportions of consensual unions in the region run from east to west and from south to north.

Making the Immoral Moral: Consensual Unions and Birth Status in Cuban Law and Everyday Practice, 1940–1958

This article explores the 1940 Cuban Constituent Assembly debates about consensual unions and birth status as legislators created a new legal process called equiparación de matrimonio civil that would grant to citizens in consensual unions the same rights and benefits that legally married citizens enjoyed. Equiparación, if granted, could enable a child born to unmarried parents to change his or her birth status in formal records. While some legislators considered the creation of the new constitution an opportunity to erase existing privileges and protections based upon outdated social and moral hierarchies embedded in Cuban legal structures, others argued that “family” issues had no place in a constitution. The Constituent Assembly’s debates about birth status illuminate how issues concerning sexual propriety and family were intertwined with antidiscrimination efforts during Cuban state formation. Nevertheless, legislators’ lofty ideas about equiparación contrast sharply with ordinary citizens’ attempts to claim their newly extended rights in judicial courts. A comparison of the legislators’ debates and ordinary Cubans’ efforts in the courtrooms to claim equiparación exposes the core contradictions between maintaining discriminatory and disenfranchising social hierarchies and protecting the fundamental equality of citizens during a period of democratic renovation in Cuba in the 1930s and 1940s. On a broader level, this article links the history of the family, law, and state formation to narratives of historical change and the production and reproduction of social hierarchies based upon race, class, and gender in modern Latin America.

Consensual Unions in Burkina Faso: Trends and Determinants

This paper examines entry into consensual unions versus marriages in Burkina Faso, a topic that has received little attention to date in sub-Saharan Africa. Changes in marriage behaviors may entail or reflect profound changes in family organization, gender relations and fertility and, to the extent that consensual unions are relatively transitory and lead to more sexual partners, they may be associated with greater sexual risks including HIV. The determinants of new unions being consensual are estimated from national family-life type survey data that provide information on the timing of different types of marriages and the start of cohabitation. While consensual unions are not new to the country, they appear to be changing in nature and have been growing more common over time especially in urban areas. They are also more popular among men and women with greater schooling or who began cohabiting while living outside the country, and for women who have previously lived in union.

Dos décadas de transformaciones de la nupcialidad uruguaya. La convergencia hacia la segunda transición demográfica / Two Decades of Transformations of Uruguayan Marriage Patterns. The Convergence towards the Second Demographic Transition

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar las principales tendencias de la nupcialidad uruguaya durante las últimas dos décadas. Si bien el trabajo se apoya en las grandes líneas explicativas de la segunda transición demográfica (STD) para interpretar la evolución de los distintos indicadores de la vida familiar, su carácter es básicamente descriptivo.Con un desfasaje temporal de aproximadamente dos décadas, la nupcialidad uruguaya experimentó transformaciones similares a las que se presentaron en los países desarrollados desde finales de los años sesenta. Entre mediados de la década de 1980 y los primeros años de 2000 la tasa de nupcialidad se redujo a la mitad, mientras que las uniones consensuales experimentaron un crecimiento de gran magnitud entre los jóvenes de todos los estratos educativos. En 1987 la proporción de personas de 20 a 24 años que estaba en unión consensual alcanzaba a poco menos de 20% del total de jóvenes que había iniciado su vida conyugal, en 2007 representaba más de 80%. Concomitantemente, el divorcio se duplicó y las uniones (legales y de hecho) empezaron a disolverse con duraciones cada vez más cortas. Por último, se registró un aplazamiento muy moderado de la edad de entrada en unión, que parece obedecer a la polarización social en los calendarios conyugales entre jóvenes de distintos niveles educativos.Es motivo de discusión si las transformaciones recientes ocurridas en la esfera de las relaciones familiares en Uruguay responden a un cambio en el patrón de valores similar al descrito para los países occidentales desarrollados. La discusión es pertinente en la medida en que la población uruguaya experimentó en los últimos años un marcado proceso de exclusión social y tanto las especificidades culturales como las políticas públicas desempeñan un papel relevante en las formas en que se manifiesta el cambio familiar. Sin embargo resulta difícil explicar la similitud de las tendencias de cambio familiar en Uruguay respecto a aquellos países, sin hacer referencia al patrón global de cambio familiar que encierra la segunda transición demográfica. AbstractThis article seeks to present the main trends in Uruguayan marriage rates over the past two decades. Although the study is based on the main explanatory lines of the second demographic transition (SDT) to interpret the evolution of the various indicators of family life, it is basically descriptive.Over a period of approximately two decades, Uruguayan marriage rates underwent similar transformations to those that occurred in developed countries in the late 1960s. Between the mid 1980s and the early years of 2000, marriage rates were halved whereas consensual unions increased sharply among young people of all levels of educational attainment. In 1987, the proportion of persons ages 20 to 24 living in consensual unions accounted for just under 20% of the total number of young people who had begun their conjugal lives whereas in 2007, it accounted for over 80%. Concomitantly, the divorce rate doubled and unions (both legal and de facto) began to dissolve within increasingly short periods of time. Lastly, a slight postponement was recorded in the age of entering unions, which appears to reflect the social polarization in the marital time-frames of young people with different levels of educational attainment.It is a matter of debate whether the recent transformations that occurred within the sphere of family relations in Uruguay reflect a change in the pattern of values similar to that described for developed western countries. And the discussion is relevant insofar as in recent years, the Uruguayan population has experienced a marked process of social exclusion while cultural specificities and public policies have played a key role in the ways family changes are expressed. However, it is difficult to explain the similarity in the trends in family changes in Uruguay regarding those countries without referring to the overall pattern of family change entailed by the second demographic transition.

Household Surveys as a Source of Data for Event History Analysis

The authors introduce a method that allows the use of data from rotating panel surveys, a design used in many household or labour force surveys, to realize statistical analyses similar to event history analysis. The method is illustrated with two examples, one on the dynamics of poverty — the effect of demographic and socioeconomic factors on the hazard of becoming poor in Argentina — and the other on family dynamics — the conversion of consensual unions into marriages. Both examples use data from the Argentinean Encuesta Permanente de Hogares, a national survey that is not designed to collect prospective or biographical data. The method allows for the use of time-varying independent variables and thus allows one to estimate the effect of an event on the hazard of another event, as in conventional event history analysis; several examples are provided.