Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Resources, Living Arrangements and First Union Formation in the United States, the Netherlands and West Germany

  • Published:
European Journal of Population / Revue européenne de Démographie Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper addresses the impact of the previous living arrangement (living in the parental home versus living away) on first union formation. We investigate differences between the living arrangements in the impact of individual and parental resources. Analyses are performed for three countries with different welfare regimes: the USA, the Netherlands and West Germany. Many of our findings are in line with the general hypothesis that resources matter less to union formation for those living away from the parents than for those still living in the parental home. Furthermore, the results suggest that resources matter less in Conservative Continental European welfare regimes than in the USA, a Liberal Market welfare regime.

Résumé

Cet article s’intéresse à l’effet du mode de vie antérieur (encore au foyer des parents ou habitant un logement indépendant) sur la première mise en couple. Nous étudions précisément si l’influence des ressources individuelles et parentales sur l’entrée en union dépend du mode de logement antérieur. Les analyses sont effectuées sur 3 pays aux régimes sociaux différents  : les États-Unis, les Pays-Bas et l’Allemagne de l’ouest. La plupart de nos résultats confirment l’hypothèse que l’influence des ressources sur la mise en couple est moindre quand le logement est indépendant, comparée à la situation où le jeune adulte vit encore chez ses parents. De plus, il semble que ces ressources jouent un plus petit rôle dans les pays européens aux régimes sociaux conservateurs que dans le régime libéral américain.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • A. Aassve F. Billari S. Mazzuco F. Ongaro (2002) ArticleTitle‘Leaving home: A comparative analysis of ECHP data’ Journal of European social policy 12 IssueID4 259–276

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Attias-Donfut F.-C. Wolff (2000) ‘Complementary between private and public transfers’ S. Arber C. Attias-Donfut (Eds) The Myth of Generational Conflict. The Family and State in Ageing Societies Routledge London 47–68

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Avery F. Goldscheider A. Speare SuffixJr. (1992) ArticleTitle‘Feathered nest/gilded cage: Parental income and leaving home in the transition to adulthood’ Demography 29 IssueID3 375–388

    Google Scholar 

  • W. G. Axinn A. Thornton (1992) ArticleTitle‘The influence of parental resources on the timing of the transition to marriage’ Social Science Research 21 261–285 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0049-089X(92)90008-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • G. S. Becker (1991) A Treatise on the Family. Enlarged Edition Harvard University Press Cambridge, Mass

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Berrington I. Diamond (2000) ArticleTitle‘Marriage or cohabitation: A competing risks analysis of first-partnership formation among the 1958 British birth cohort’ Journal of Royal Statistical Society A 163 IssueID2 127–151 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-985X.00162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • H.-P. Blossfeld J. Huinink (1991) ArticleTitle‘Human capital investments or norms of role transition? How women’s schooling and career affect the process of family formation’ American Journal of Sociology 97 IssueID1 143–168 Occurrence Handle10.1086/229743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • H.-P. Blossfeld U. Jaenichen (1992) ArticleTitle‘Educational expansion and changes in women’s entry into marriage and motherhood in the Federal Republic of Germany’ Journal of Marriage and the Family 54 302–315 Occurrence Handle10.2307/353062

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brückner, H., and Mayer, K. U., 1995. Lebensverläufe und gesellschaftlicher Wandel: Konzeption, Design und Methodik der Erhebung von Lebensverläufen der Geburtsjahrgänge 1954–1956 und 1959–1961. Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin (Materialien aus der Bildungsforschung Nr. 48).

  • R. A. Easterlin (1980) Birth and Fortune; the Impact of Numbers on Personal Welfare Basic Books New York

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Esping-Andersen (1999) Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies Oxford University Press Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • ESR/STP, 1992. SSCW data file. Owner: Stichting Economische, Sociaal-culturele en Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen (ESR) of the Netherlands Organisation for the Advancement of Scientific Research (NWO), The Hague. Data collection: Stichting Telepanel, Amsterdam. Data management: Steinmetz Archive, Amsterdam (P1107).

  • H. B. G. Ganzeboom P. Graaf ParticleDe D. J. Treiman (1992) ArticleTitle‘A standard international socio-economic index of occupational status’ Social Science Research 21 1–56 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0049-089X(92)90017-B

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • F. K. Goldscheider L. J. Waite (1987) ArticleTitle‘Nest-leaving patterns and the transition to marriage for young men and women’ Journal of Marriage and the Family 49 507–516 Occurrence Handle10.2307/352196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • F. K. Goldscheider L. J. Waite (1991) New Families, No Families? The Transformation of the American Home University of California Press Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • F. Goldscheider C. Goldscheider (1999) The Changing Transition to Adulthood. Leaving and Returning Home Sage Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • J. M. Hoem (1986) ArticleTitle‘The impact of education on modern family-union initiation’ European Journal of Population 2 113–133 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01796886

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofferth, S., Stafford, F. P., Yeung, W.-J. J., Duncan, G. J., Hill, M. S., Lepkowski, J. and Morgan, J. N., 2002. Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 1968–1999: Supplemental Files [Computer file]. ICPSR version. University of Michigan Survey Research Center [producer], 2001/Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], Ann Arbor.

  • P. J. Huber (1967) ‘The behavior of maximum likelihood estimates under nonstandard conditions’ University of California Press Berkeley, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Jong Gierveld ParticleDe A. C. Liefbroer E. Beekink (1991) ArticleTitle‘The effect of parental resources on patterns of leaving home among young adults in the Netherlands’ European Sociological Review 7 IssueID1 55–71

    Google Scholar 

  • A. C. Liefbroer (1991) ArticleTitle‘The choice between a married or unmarried first union by young adults: A competing risk analysis’ European Journal of Population 7 273–298 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01796842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. C. Liefbroer M. Corijn (1999) ArticleTitle‘Who, what, where, and when? Specifying the impact of educational attainment and labour force participation on family formation’ European Journal of Population 15 45–75

    Google Scholar 

  • A. C. Liefbroer L. Gerritsen J. Jong Gierveld ParticleDe (1994) ArticleTitle‘The influence of intentions and life course factors on union formation behavior of young adults’ Journal of Marriage and the Family 56 193–203 Occurrence Handle10.2307/352713

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • K. M. Lloyd S. J. South (1996) ArticleTitle‘Contextual influences on young men’s transition to first marriage’ Social Forces 74 IssueID3 1097–1119 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2580394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D. Manting (1994) Dynamics in Marriage and Cohabitation. An Inter-temporal, Life Course Analysis of First Union Formation and Dissolution Thesis Publishers/PDOD Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • D. Manting (1996) ArticleTitle‘The changing meaning of cohabitation and marriage’ European Sociological Review 12 IssueID1 53–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, K. U., and Brückner, E., 1989. Lebensverläufe und Wohlfahrtsentwicklung, Konzeption, Design und Methodik der Erhebung von Lebensverläufen der Geburtsjahrgänge 1929–1931, 1939–1941 and 1949–1951, Teil I–III. Max-Planck-Institut für Bildung, Berlin (Materialien aus der Bildungsforschung Nr. 35).

  • B. A. Mitchell A. V. Wister T. K. Burch (1989) ArticleTitle‘The family environment and leaving the parental home’ Journal of Marriage and the Family 51 605–613 Occurrence Handle10.2307/352160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C. H. Mulder M. Wagner (1998) ArticleTitle‘First-time home-ownership in the family life course: a West German-Dutch comparison’ Urban Studies 35 IssueID4 687–713 Occurrence Handle10.1080/0042098984709

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C. H. Mulder W. A. V. Clark (2000) ArticleTitle‘Leaving home and leaving the state: Evidence from the United States’ International Journal of Population Geography 6 IssueID6 423–437 Occurrence Handle10.1002/1099-1220(200011/12)6:6<423::AID-IJPG199>3.0.CO;2-R

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C. H. Mulder W. A. V. Clark M. Wagner (2002) ArticleTitle‘A comparative analysis of leaving home in the United States, the Netherlands and West Germany’ Demographic Research 7 IssueID17 565–592 Occurrence Handle10.4054/DemRes.2002.7.17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • V. K. Oppenheimer (1988) ArticleTitle‘A theory of marriage timing’ American Journal of Sociology 94 IssueID3 563–591 Occurrence Handle10.1086/229030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • V. K. Oppenheimer M. Kalmijn N. Lim (1997) ArticleTitle‘Men’s career development and marriage timing during a period of rising inequality’ Demography 34 IssueID3 311–330

    Google Scholar 

  • R. K. Raley (2000) ‘Recent trends and differentials in marriage and cohabitation: The United States’ L. J. Waite (Eds) Ties that Bind. Perspectives on Marriage and Cohabition Aldine de Gruyter New York 19–40

    Google Scholar 

  • R. R. Rindfuss A. VandenHeuvel (1990) ArticleTitle‘Cohabitation: A precursor to marriage or an alternative to being single?’ Population and Development Review 16 IssueID4 703–726

    Google Scholar 

  • S. J. South (2001) ArticleTitle‘The variable effects of family background on the timing of first marriage: United States, 1969–1993’ Social Science Research 30 606–626 Occurrence Handle10.1006/ssre.2001.0714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Thornton W. G. Axinn J. D. Teachman (1995) ArticleTitle‘The influence of school enrollment and accumulation on cohabitation and marriage in early adulthood’ American Sociological Review 60 762–774 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2096321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ultee, W. C. and Ganzeboom, H. B. G., 1993. Netherlands Family Survey 1992–93 [machine readable data set]. Codebook prepared by Harry B.G. Ganzeboom, Susanne Rijken, September 1993 edition. Changes and additions made by Harry B. G. Ganzeboom and Roland Weygold, January 1995 edition. Nijmegen, Netherlands: Dept. of Sociology, Nijmegen University.

  • L. J. Waite G. Spitze (1981) ArticleTitle‘Young women’s transition to marriage’ Demography 18 681–694

    Google Scholar 

  • L. J. Waite F. K. Goldscheider C. Witsberger (1986) ArticleTitle‘Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults’ American Sociological Review 51 541–554 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2095586

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • L. Whittington H. E. Peters (1996) ArticleTitle‘Economic incentives for financial and residential independence’ Demography 33 IssueID1 82–97

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Yamaguchi (1991) Event History Analysis Sage Publications Newbury Park

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Planning, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, NL-1018 VZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Clara H. Mulder

  2. Department of Geography, UCLA, 1255 Bunche Hall, Box 951524, Los Angeles, California, 90095-1524, USA

    William A. V. Clark

  3. Forschungsinstitut für Soziologie, Cologne University, Greinstr. 2, D-50939, Köln, Germany

    Michael Wagner

Authors
  1. Clara H. Mulder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. William A. V. Clark
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Michael Wagner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Clara H. Mulder.

Additional information

Mulder, C.H., Clark, W.A.V. and Wagner, M. 2005. Resources, Living Arrangements and First Union Formation in the United States, the Netherlands and West Germany. European Journal of Population,

Mulder, C.H., Clark, W.A.V. et Wagner, M. 2005. Ressources, mode de logement et première entrée en union aux États-Unis, aux Pays-Bas et en Allemagne de l’ouest. Revue européenne de démographie.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mulder, C.H., Clark, W.A.V. & Wagner, M. Resources, Living Arrangements and First Union Formation in the United States, the Netherlands and West Germany. Eur J Population 22, 3–35 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-005-4768-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-005-4768-8

Keywords

Mots clés

Search

Navigation