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Integrating Gender into Transport Planning pp 121–144Cite as

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Til Work Do Us Part: The Social Fallacy of Long-Distance Commuting

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the social implications of long-distance commuting on commuters and their spouses in Sweden. In a nationwide study, the extent to which long-distance commuting increases the odds that couples will separate is investigated through event history analysis. Discrete-time logistic regression models were employed with longitudinal data on Swedish couples in 2000 to explore the odds of separation following long-distance commuting during 1995–2005. As expected, the results show that separation rates are higher among long-distance commuting couples compared with non-commuting couples. More complex results show that for men the odds of separating are highest if the commuting is on a temporary basis and that women’s odds decrease when they continue commuting for a longer time period. The long-distance commuting effect on relationships also varies depending on residential context.

This article is a reprint from 2014 in the journal Urban Studies, 51(3), 526–543.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The average travel time for a journey (work, business, school or leisure trip) in Sweden is 42 minutes for 27 kilometres according to the Swedish National Travel Survey (Swedish Institute for Transport and Communications Analysis 2007). Therefore, 30 Euclidean kilometres is assumed to take at least 45 minutes on average.

  2. 2.

    As cohabiting is a very common form of relationship in Sweden, compared to many other western countries, no distinction is made between married and cohabiting couples. About one-third of all couples in Sweden are cohabitating (Statistics Sweden 2003) and out of all new couples between 1999 and 2001 67% were cohabiting (with common children) and 33% were married (Statistics Sweden 2011).

  3. 3.

    Only spouses with common children are registered as cohabiting in the data.

  4. 4.

    The number of individuals and separations are not equal among women and men because some individuals are married to/cohabiting with or separated from either non-residential Swedes or non-Swedish persons. These individuals are not included in the analyses.

  5. 5.

    Only couples with known duration of marriage/cohabitation are accounted for here, n=412,730.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Economic History/Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research CEDAR, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Erika Sandow

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  1. Erika Sandow
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Correspondence to Erika Sandow .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Christina Lindkvist Scholten

  2. K2 – Swedish Knowledge Centre for Public Transport, Lund, Sweden

    Christina Lindkvist Scholten

  3. Department of Education, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Tanja Joelsson

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Sandow, E. (2019). Til Work Do Us Part: The Social Fallacy of Long-Distance Commuting. In: Scholten, C.L., Joelsson, T. (eds) Integrating Gender into Transport Planning. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05042-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05042-9_6

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