Using a framework that emphasizes independent versus interdependent self-construals, this study investigates the relatively low rates of early marriage and cohabitation among Asian Americans compared with Whites. Data from Waves 1 and 3 of Add Health are used to test five hypotheses that focus on family value socialization and other precursors…

Using data from Waves I and III of Add Health, this study examines early family formation among 6,144 White, Black, and Mexican American women. Drawing on cultural and structural perspectives, models of the first and second family transitions (cohabitation, marriage, or childbearing) are estimated using discrete-time multinomial logistic…

Social background has historically been recognized as a major factor influencing family behavior, though recent work has largely emphasized racial/ethnic influences. Here we use 1994 - 1995 and 2001 - 2002 Add Health data to examine the cohabitation, first marriage, and first birth experience of young women. In a multi state life table context,…

At least two important demographic changes will occur in the United States in the future: the growth of the Hispanic population and the growth of the second and third generations among Hispanics. We argue that the expansion of the Hispanic population is unlikely to slow the retreat from marriage, despite the pronuptial cultural orientations of…

This study investigates the implications for union stability of different methods for providing access to income in cohabiting and marital unions among mainland Puerto Ricans. Using the Puerto Rican Maternal and Infant Health Study (N= 836), we show that union dissolution is associated with both union type and type of method. The relatively high…

Examined meaning of informal unions among mainland Puerto Rican women. Compared characteristics of women in informal unions to those of single and married women; assessed whether Puerto Rican women defined their informal unions as nonmarital cohabitation or form of marriage; and examined predictors of women's definitions of informal unions. Found…

Examined childbearing behavior of approximately 733 black and 2,986 white cohabiting and married women at 2 stages in marital life course. Found that, for both first unions and first postmarital unions, rate of childbearing within cohabitation more closely approximated rate of childbearing within legal marriage among black women than white women.…

The rise of cohabitation and the growing share of births to cohabiting couples have led to speculation that the boundary between marriage and cohabitation is blurring. Examines this issue with an analysis of the financial arrangements of fathers of mainland Puerto Rican children. Reveals that married fathers are more likely than cohabiting fathers…

Life history data from both origin and destination areas were used to examine the relationship between migration and fertility among Puerto Rican women. Migration to the U.S. mainland had opposite effects on childbearing for single versus married or cohabiting women. For all migrants, migration played an integral part in the family formation…

Examines cohabitation in premarital childbearing among U.S. women. Utilized data from the National Survey of Families and Households and the New York Fertility, Employment, and Migration Survey. Marked racial and ethnic differences in the role of the cohabiting union in family building were evident. Interprets findings in terms of long-standing…