A Nation of Bastards? Registered Cohabitation, Childbearing, and First-Marriage Formation in Iceland, 1994–2013
Abstract Nowhere in Europe is extramarital childbearing more pervasive than in Iceland. Roughly, 70% of children born in 2018 were conceived outside of marriage, thereof 83% of firstborn, which, on the surface, puts Iceland at the vanguard of a development often associated with a second demographic...
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2 2023-05-15T16:46:35+02:00 A Nation of Bastards? Registered Cohabitation, Childbearing, and First-Marriage Formation in Iceland, 1994–2013 Jónsson, Ari Klængur Vetenskapsrådet 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY European Journal of Population volume 37, issue 1, page 65-95 ISSN 0168-6577 1572-9885 Demography journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2 2022-01-04T12:38:24Z Abstract Nowhere in Europe is extramarital childbearing more pervasive than in Iceland. Roughly, 70% of children born in 2018 were conceived outside of marriage, thereof 83% of firstborn, which, on the surface, puts Iceland at the vanguard of a development often associated with a second demographic transition. In this study, we investigate the union formation behaviour of Icelandic women during a period of 20 years (1994–2013) with the objectives of gaining insight into the interplay of childbearing, registered cohabitation, and marriage and to enhance our understanding of the function of registered cohabitation in the family-building process. We use administrative population register data, covering the childbearing and marital history of the total female population born in Iceland during 1962–1997. The data are analysed by means of event history techniques and presented as annual indices of first-registered cohabitation and first-marriage formation, respectively. We find indications of forceful postponement of registering cohabitation over time, but a stable portion of around 80% of women registered cohabitation before any first marriage or age 46. Around 70% of women married before age 46, and the standardized marriage rates remained relatively stable during most of our study period. Our findings suggest that within a context such as the Icelandic one, most people tend to marry, regardless of the prevalence of cohabitation. We propose that registered cohabitation should be seen as providing a semi-regulated union status for prospective parents in relation to childbearing. Marriage on the other hand could be seen as providing an elevated union status to couples. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Springer Nature (via Crossref) European Journal of Population 37 1 65 95 |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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English |
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Demography |
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Demography Jónsson, Ari Klængur A Nation of Bastards? Registered Cohabitation, Childbearing, and First-Marriage Formation in Iceland, 1994–2013 |
topic_facet |
Demography |
description |
Abstract Nowhere in Europe is extramarital childbearing more pervasive than in Iceland. Roughly, 70% of children born in 2018 were conceived outside of marriage, thereof 83% of firstborn, which, on the surface, puts Iceland at the vanguard of a development often associated with a second demographic transition. In this study, we investigate the union formation behaviour of Icelandic women during a period of 20 years (1994–2013) with the objectives of gaining insight into the interplay of childbearing, registered cohabitation, and marriage and to enhance our understanding of the function of registered cohabitation in the family-building process. We use administrative population register data, covering the childbearing and marital history of the total female population born in Iceland during 1962–1997. The data are analysed by means of event history techniques and presented as annual indices of first-registered cohabitation and first-marriage formation, respectively. We find indications of forceful postponement of registering cohabitation over time, but a stable portion of around 80% of women registered cohabitation before any first marriage or age 46. Around 70% of women married before age 46, and the standardized marriage rates remained relatively stable during most of our study period. Our findings suggest that within a context such as the Icelandic one, most people tend to marry, regardless of the prevalence of cohabitation. We propose that registered cohabitation should be seen as providing a semi-regulated union status for prospective parents in relation to childbearing. Marriage on the other hand could be seen as providing an elevated union status to couples. |
author2 |
Vetenskapsrådet |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jónsson, Ari Klængur |
author_facet |
Jónsson, Ari Klængur |
author_sort |
Jónsson, Ari Klængur |
title |
A Nation of Bastards? Registered Cohabitation, Childbearing, and First-Marriage Formation in Iceland, 1994–2013 |
title_short |
A Nation of Bastards? Registered Cohabitation, Childbearing, and First-Marriage Formation in Iceland, 1994–2013 |
title_full |
A Nation of Bastards? Registered Cohabitation, Childbearing, and First-Marriage Formation in Iceland, 1994–2013 |
title_fullStr |
A Nation of Bastards? Registered Cohabitation, Childbearing, and First-Marriage Formation in Iceland, 1994–2013 |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Nation of Bastards? Registered Cohabitation, Childbearing, and First-Marriage Formation in Iceland, 1994–2013 |
title_sort |
nation of bastards? registered cohabitation, childbearing, and first-marriage formation in iceland, 1994–2013 |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2/fulltext.html |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
European Journal of Population volume 37, issue 1, page 65-95 ISSN 0168-6577 1572-9885 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-020-09560-2 |
container_title |
European Journal of Population |
container_volume |
37 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
65 |
op_container_end_page |
95 |
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1766036689970528256 |