Gender-Atypical Occupations and Instability of Intimate Unions: Examining the Relationship and Mechanisms

Although social scientists have long been interested in the effects of occupational gender composition on workers, previous research has rarely examined how working in a gender-atypical occupation affects people’s private lives. This study draws on 17 rounds of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to investigate how individuals in occupations with varying gender ratios differ in the stability of their intimate unions. The authors also consider various mechanisms that may explain the link between working in a gender-atypical occupation and union instability. Results from random-effects event-history models show that both men and women in gender-atypical occupations experience faster paces of union dissolution than their counterparts in gender-balanced or gender-typical occupations. Female-dominant occupations’ lower pay accounts for a modest portion of the effect of working in female-typed occupations on men’s union instability. By contrast, the more irregular work schedules of male-typed occupations explain a substantial part of why women in such occupations have lower union stability. The remaining associations between occupational gender composition and union instability, we suggest, reflect the tendency for men and women in gender-atypical occupations to undergo greater psychological strain, which in turn increases the difficulty of maintaining intimate relationships.

Individualized Relationship Practices and Union Dissolution: Differences Between Marriage and Cohabitation

Emotional disclosure, self-determination and egalitarianism are considered central benefits of individualized relationships. Yet, the body of research linking relationship practices and union stability is sparse. We study the extent to which relationship practices in the spheres of intimacy, autonomy, and democracy affect the risk of union dissolution, comparing marriage and cohabitation. Using longitudinal data from nine waves of the German Pairfam survey, we predict union dissolution of n = 3,650 cohabiting and married women and men. Cohabiters report higher levels of individualized relationship practices compared to the married. Intimacy is the key dimension predicting union stability. Individuals thus exhibit relatively low resilience towards decline in emotional gratification in their couple relationships. Autonomy and democracy are not empirically relevant to predict union stability beyond the extent to which they were connected to levels of intimacy. Differences between cohabitation and marriage were marginal with spouses’ benefits from higher levels of intimacy for union stability being larger compared to cohabiting individuals. Our study contributes to the analytical clarification of the consequences of the changing meaning of intimate relationships in individualized societies, and ultimately, to cultural explanations for increased relationship instability.

Health and Union Dissolution among Parenting Couples: Differences by Gender and Marital Status

Poor health may destabilize romantic unions by impeding fulfillment of family responsibilities, increasing stress, and causing financial strain. We hypothesized that the associations of health characteristics with union stability for parenting couples vary by the gender of the partner in poor health and the couple’s marital status because of gender and marital status differences in family responsibilities and health-related coping behaviors. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 2,997), we examined how three health measures predicted union dissolution for urban married and cohabiting couples with young children. Fathers’ depression at baseline predicted dissolution for all parenting couples, as did either partner developing depression between baseline and the following interview. For married parents, fathers’ health-related work limitations and mothers’ poor self-rated health also predicted dissolution. Associations between health conditions and dissolution differ by gender and marital status, possibly reflecting varying social norms about family responsibilities.

Shifting Influences of Pregnancy on Union Formation Across Age and Union Stability Across Cohabitation Duration

Nonmarital pregnancy increases the likelihood of entering a marital or cohabiting union. The timing of a pregnancy within the life course of an individual or relationship duration may also affect the likelihood of forming coresidential unions and their stability. This study examines the association between nonmarital pregnancy and first union formation and how this varies across age. It also considers whether the influence of pregnancy on the stability of cohabitations shifts across their duration. Using data on young adults in the United States (Add Health), competing-risk event-history models examine the time-varying influence of pregnancy on union formation and stability. Findings suggest that pregnancy is more strongly associated with union formation during adolescence, becoming less influential as women age. Within cohabitations, pregnancy had a bigger impact on increasing the likelihood of marriage early within unions, but the longer a couple cohabited the less likely they were to transition to marriage when pregnant.

The Reversal of the Gender Gap in Education and Its Consequences for Family Life

Although men tended to receive more education than women in the past, the gender gap in education has reversed in recent decades in most Western and many non-Western countries. We review the literature about the implications for union formation, assortative mating, the division of paid and unpaid work, and union stability in Western countries. The bulk of the evidence points to a narrowing of gender differences in mate preferences and declining aversion to female status-dominant relationships. Couples in which wives have more education than their husbands now outnumber those in which husbands have more. Although such marriages were more unstable in the past, existing studies indicate that this is no longer true. In addition, recent studies show less evidence of gender display in housework when wives have higher status than their husbands. Despite these shifts, other research documents the continuing influence of the breadwinner-homemaker model of marriage.