The New Zealand Family from 1840 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Demography, History, Australia & New Zealand
ISBN: 9781775581994
Google: fcIYAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Published: 2013-11-01T04:11:52+00:00

Results from the NZW:FEE in Table 6.3 show that the levels of stability for first consensual unions have undergone major changes. Among those who entered into their first cohabitations before 1970, about 75% converted this status into marriage within five years and 14% broke up. But the corresponding percentages for those who entered into a first cohabitation during 1970–79 were 54% and 33%, and for the period 1980–89 the percentages were 41% and 45%. Thus it is clear that from the 1970s cohabiting unions were more likely to break up than to be converted into marriages. At the same time, the proportion of cohabiting unions that were likely still to be intact at the beginning of five years also increased – this fits with the argument that enduring cohabiting unions were increasingly likely to be acceptable to the wider community and in that sense ‘formalised’. The ethnic differential is again interesting: first cohabiting unions were more likely to break up among Maori women than among non-Maori; conversely such unions were less likely to be converted into a marriage, yet more likely to be still intact as a cohabiting union among Maori compared to non-Maori. Perhaps the reasons for this were similar to those noted above for divorce.

Both bi-variate and multi-variate analyses showed that premarital cohabitation increased the risk of divorce by about 30% (McCluskey 1999: 73–74; Dharmalingam et al. 2004). An exception to this was that the likelihood of separation for those women who had not cohabited with the man to whom they were currently married, but who had cohabited before with someone else, was little different from those who had never cohabited with any other person at all before marriage (unpublished tabulation prepared for the present study; see also Dharmalingam et al. 2004: Chapt. 3). Controlling for other factors, the effect of education plays some role, as the highly educated were less likely to dissolve their marriage than those with lower levels or no qualifications at all. Having many children also reduced the risks of divorce.

Remarriage is another important proximate determinant of family sizes, age structures, statuses and living arrangements. As was shown above, the age differences between the spouses at the time of remarriage is likely to be a little wider for divorcees, but much wider for widowed persons. Divorce and reconstitution influence the prevalence of blended families. But the literature on remarriage in New Zealand is limited (Fleming 1999 looked at the different needs of such families). Cross-sectional census data show that remarriage following divorce doubled from about 12.5% in 1976 to 21.7% in 1991. While females were more likely to enter first marriage than males, it is the reverse for remarriage: females are less likely than males to remarry following divorce. However, this gap narrowed between 1986 and 1991 (Jackson and Pool 1994: 66–72; also see Carmichael 1985). Divorcees are more likely to opt for cohabitation or singlehood than legal marriage (Carmichael 1996; McPherson 1995).

Analysis of the NZW:FEE data suggests that one in five separated women

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