A statistical bulletin presented annual statistics on trends in families and households. The number of opposite-sex cohabiting couples had increased from 1.5 million in 1996 to 2.9 million in 2012; and the number of dependent children living in these families had doubled from 0.9 million to 1.8 million in the same period. The most common family type in 2012 was a married or civil partner couple without dependent children, accounting for 7.6 million out of a total of 18.2 million families in the United Kingdom. The second most common family type was a married or civil partner couple with dependent children, of which there were 4.6 million.
Source: Families and Households, 2012, Office for National Statistics
Links: Bulletin | Short report (cohabitation) | ONS press release | Marriage Foundation press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Nov
A new book examined marriage as a social institution in industrialized countries, and evaluated proposals for marriage reform.
Source: Marsha Garrison (ed.), Marriage at the Crossroads: Law, policy, and the brave new world of 21st-century families, Cambridge University Press
Links: Summary
Notes: Chapters included: Rebecca Probert, 'Marriage at the crossroads in England and Wales'
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined whether serially cohabiting men formed a selected group via their work histories; whether serial cohabitors were less likely to marry but more likely to separate than single-instance cohabitors; and, if so, what part was played by features of their work histories in explaining these outcomes. Although serial cohabitors did form a selected group via their work histories, the negative effect of serial cohabitation on marriage and the positive effect of serial cohabitation on separation remained significant and strong even after controlling for cohabitors' before-cohabitation and within-cohabitation work histories. The experience of serial cohabitation itself appeared to affect the attitudes of men towards marriage.
Source: Erzsebet Bukodi, 'Serial cohabitation among men in Britain: does work history matter?', European Journal of Population, Volume 28 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
The Supreme Court ruled that cohabitants in Scotland could apply for financial provisions when they had suffered economic disadvantage in the event of their relationship with a partner coming to an end.
Source: Gow v Grant, UKSC 29 (2012), United Kingdom Supreme Court
Links: Judgement | Irwin Mitchell press release
Date: 2012-Jul
An article examined the relationship between partnership status and subjective well-being in 45 European countries. Married individuals had the highest level of well-being, followed by (in order) cohabiting, dating, single, and finally widowed and divorced individuals. The author also examined to what extent the well-being gaps depended on the normative climate in which an individual lived. It was found that the normative climate appeared to hardly affect well-being gaps between partnership statuses: only the gap between divorced and married women was significantly wider in 'familialistic' societies.
Source: Ellen Verbakel, 'Subjective well-being by partnership status and its dependence on the normative climate', European Journal of Population, Volume 28 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined whether European women who had children in unions married, and if so, at what stage in family formation. It also considered whether women who conceived when cohabiting were more likely to marry or separate. Patterns of union formation and childbearing developed along different trajectories across countries. In all countries, however, fewer than 40 per cent of women remained in cohabitation up to 3 years after the first birth, suggesting that marriage remained the predominant institution for raising children.
Source: Brienna Perelli-Harris, Michaela Kreyenfeld, Wendy Sigle-Rushton, Renske Keizer, Trude Lappegard, Aiva Jasilioniene, Caroline Berghammer, and Paola Di Giulio, 'Changes in union status during the transition to parenthood in eleven European countries, 1970s to early 2000s', Population Studies, Volume 66 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the relationship between work history and partnership formation for men. It considered whether instabilities in young men's careers led to a higher probability of entering into cohabitation and, in turn, to a postponement of first marriage; and whether there were cohort differences in the effects of men's careers on their partnership decisions. Highly unstable occupational careers made it 'very likely' that young men's first partnership was a cohabitation rather than a marriage. Further, having an unstable occupational career early in working life was a strong impediment to transforming cohabitation into marriage.
Source: Erzsebet Bukodi, 'The relationship between work history and partnership formation in cohorts of British men born in 1958 and 1970', Population Studies, Volume 66 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
A new book examined marriage in the context of European migration studies.
Source: Katharine Charsley (ed.), Transnational Marriage: New perspectives from Europe and beyond, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jun
A think-tank report examined the history of the fight against the practice of forced marriage. It said that successful schemes adopted a holistic approach – involving communities, and focusing on prevention rather than prosecution – rather than relying on criminalization alone.
Source: Max Wind-Cowie, Phillida Cheetham, and Tom Gregory, Ending Forced Marriage, Demos
Date: 2012-Apr
A think-tank paper said that a new transferable tax allowance for married couples (in line with Conservative Party policy) would help to fight poverty more effectively than increasing the income tax threshold to £10,000 (in line with Liberal Democrat policy). Increasing the income tax threshold would benefit the richest groups more than the poorest, whereas recognizing marriage in the tax system would give the greatest help to those on lower incomes.
Source: It Is Time to Back Marriage, Centre for Social Justice
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Feb
A bulletin presented annual statistics for the United Kingdom on the number of families by type, people in families by family type, and children in families by type. In 2011 there were 17.9 million families: of these, 12.0 million consisted of a married couple with or without children. The number of opposite sex cohabiting couple families had increased significantly, from 2.1 million in 2001 to 2.9 million in 2011. In 2011, 38 per cent of married couple families had dependent children, the same percentage as cohabiting couple families. There were 2.0 million lone parents with dependent children in 2011, compared with 1.7 million in 2001 There were 26.3 million households in 2011: of these, 29 per cent consisted of only one person and almost 20 per cent consisted of 4 or more people.
Source: Families and Households, 2001 to 2011, Office for National Statistics
Links: Bulletin | ONS press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jan