Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:20:35.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

COHABITATION AND UNION DISSOLUTION IN CENTRAL UGANDA: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COHABITORS AND NON-COHABITORS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2017

Charles Lwanga ,
Ishmael Kalule-Sabiti  and
Natal Ayiga
Charles Lwanga*
Affiliation:
Department of Population Studies, School of Statistics and Planning, Makerere University, Uganda
Ishmael Kalule-Sabiti
Affiliation:
Population Research and Training Unit, North-West University (Mafikeng Campus), South Africa
Natal Ayiga
Affiliation:
Population Research and Training Unit, North-West University (Mafikeng Campus), South Africa
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The aim of this paper was to establish whether the differences in the risks of union dissolution between cohabitors and non-cohabitors in Uganda have converged over time using event history data. Data were collected in 2013 from 1200 women in central Uganda using retrospective methods. Of these, 839 provided information on three types of first union: women who married directly (without first cohabiting), those who married following cohabitation and those who were still cohabiting. The data were analysed using decrement lifetable analysis. Though the analysis indicated a small difference in the timing of first union dissolution for women who married directly, no evidence was found that the difference in the risk of union dissolution between cohabitors and non-cohabitors had converged over the 9-year period following first union. Women’s union/marriage status, number of living children in a union, parental union status and birth cohort were found to significantly influence the timing of union dissolution. Overall, the rate of union dissolution was fairly high, regardless of type of union.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , March 2018 , pp. 178 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amato, P. (1996) Explaining the intergenerational transmission of divorce. Journal of Marriage and the Family 58(3), 628–640.Google Scholar
Amoateng, A. & Heaton, T. (1989) The sociodemographic correlates of the timing of divorce in Ghana. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 20(1), 79–96.Google Scholar
Becker, G. (1974) The theory of marriage. In Schultz, T. W. (ed.) Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Bongaarts, J. & Potter, R. (1983) Fertility, Biology, and Behavior: An Analysis of the Proximate Determinants. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Brüderl, J. & Kalter, F. (2001) The dissolution of marriages: the role of information and marital‐specific capital. Journal of Mathematical Sociology 25(4), 403–421.Google Scholar
Budinski, A. & Trovato, F. (2005) The effect of premarital cohabitation on marital stability over the duration of marriage. Canadian Studies in Population 32(1), 69–95.Google Scholar
Cleves, M., Gould, W., Gutierrez, R. & Marchenko, Y. (2010) An Introduction to Survival Analysis Using Stata (Third Edition). Stata Press, College Station, TX.Google Scholar
Kalmijn, M., Loeve, A. & Manting, D. (2007) Income dynamics in couples and the dissolution of marriage and cohabitation. Demography 44(1), 159–179.Google Scholar
Kuperberg, A. (2014) Age at coresidence, premarital cohabitation, and marriage dissolution: 1985–2009. Journal of Marriage and the Family 76(2), 352–369.Google Scholar
Lichter, D., Qian, Z. & Mellott, L. (2006) Marriage or dissolution? Union transitions among poor cohabiting women. Demography 43(2), 223–240.Google Scholar
Manning, W. D. & Cohen, J. (2012) Premarital cohabitation and marital dissolution: an examination of recent marriages. Journal of Marriage and the Family 74(2), 377–387.Google Scholar
Manning, W., Cohen, J. & Smock, P. (2011) The role of romantic partners, family and peer networks in dating couples’ views about cohabitation. Journal of Adolescent Research 26(1), 115–149.Google Scholar
Mokomane, Z. (2005) A demographic and socio-economic portrait of cohabitation in Botswana. Society in Transition 36(1), 57–73.Google Scholar
Ntozi, J. & Kabera, J. (1988) Marriage patterns in Ankole, South-Western Uganda. African Demography Working Paper Series No. 16, pp. 1–41.Google Scholar
Oheneba-Sakyi, Y. (1989) Examining the relationship between age at first marriage, education and the timing of marital dissolution in Ghana. International Journal of Sociology of the Family 19(1), 59–76.Google ScholarPubMed
Oppenheimer, V. (1988) A theory of marriage timing. American Journal of Sociology 94(3), 563–591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Otiso, K. M. (2006) Culture and Customs of Uganda. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut, London, pp. 81–98.Google Scholar
Phillips, J. A. & Sweeney, M. M. (2005) Premarital cohabitation and marital disruption among white, black, and Mexican American women. Journal of Marriage and Family 67(2), 296–314.Google Scholar
Preston, S., Heuveline, P. & Guillot, M. (2001) Demography: Measuring and Modeling Population Processes. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.Google Scholar
Reinhold, S. (2010) Reassessing the link between premarital cohabitation and marital instability. Demography 47(3), 719–733.Google Scholar
Stanley, S., Rhoade, G. & Markman, H. (2006) Sliding versus deciding: inertia and the premarital cohabitation effect. Family Relations 55, 499–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takyi, B. K. (2001) Marital instability in an African society: exploring the factors that influence divorce processes in Ghana. Sociological Focus 34(1), 77–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teachman, J. (2003) Premarital sex, premarital cohabitation, and the risk of subsequent marital dissolution among women. Journal of Marriage and Family 65(2), 444–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, E. & Colella, U. (1992) Cohabitation and marital stability: quality or commitment? Journal of Marriage and Family 54(2), 259–267.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, N. (2001) The effects of family structure of origin on offspring cohabitation duration. Sociological Inquiry 71(3), 293–313.Google Scholar