Intimate Relationships and Social Change

The Dynamic Nature of Dating, Mating, and Coupling

Christina L. Scott, Sampson Lee Blair, Christina L. Scott, Sampson Lee Blair

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781787146105
• eBook ISBN: 9781787149946
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Over the past few decades, there has been a dynamic world-wide societal shift away from traditional routes for finding a partner and establishing intimate relationships. This multidisciplinary volume investigates the impact of online dating and the role of technology in relationship formation; the nature of cohabitation and its relative meaning with marriage; assortative mating patterns; the role of parents and siblings in the selection of a partner; gender and sexuality within dating and mating; evolving forms of non-traditional marriage; the interplay of personality and sociodemographic traits within partner selection; and the role of race, ethnicity, and religion in dating and mating. Together, this collection provides a unique and truly global collection of research on the nature of dating, mating, and coupling, as they occur across a variety of cultures.

THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD IN INDIVIDUALISTIC AND COLLECTIVISTIC CULTURES: PREVALENCE AND TIMING OF PREMARITAL COHABITATION AND FIRST MARRIAGE IN GERMANY AND CHINA

Barbara E. Fulda

ABSTRACT

In recent years, Asian countries have experienced rising rates of premarital cohabitation, mirroring a similar trend that could be observed in many European countries several decades ago. As international differences in these trends are often attributed to institutional and societal differences, this study explores how China’s and Germany’s welfare and cultural regimes relate to national differences in the timing and prevalence of premarital cohabitation and direct marriage.

On the basis of two post-hoc harmonized surveys (pairfam for Germany; CFPS for China), descriptive analyses and logistic regressions were conducted. A higher standardization of partnership trajectories during the transition to adulthood was observed in China; this being probably related to China’s collectivist and Germany’s individualistic culture. While urban–rural differences prevail in China, and are attributable to China’s hukou system, East and West Germans differ considerably in this regard, a finding which can be traced back to regional differences in historical legacy. Discrepancies in economic modernization explain why the likelihood of experiencing these events differs for individuals in the Eastern and Western Chinese provinces.

Besides these differences, the two national contexts resemble each other in the prevalence of educational hypergamy, as well as in greater rates of cohabitation prior to first marriage, in contrast to direct marriage, seen among wealthier individuals and those with higher education. For the first time, the effects of cultural and institutional differences on the transition to adulthood were compared between a collectivistic vs. individualistic cultural regime and a productivist vs. corporatist conservative welfare regime, enabling researchers to draw conclusions about the link between cultural and welfare regime types and partnership patterns.

Keywords: Germany; China; premarital cohabitation; transition to adulthood; CFPS; pairfam; marriage; culture; welfare regime

INTRODUCTION

In European societies, for several decades now we have observed a decline in marriage formation, and an increase in non-marital cohabitation, union disruption, and postponement of marriage (Hiekel, Liefbroer, & Poortman, 2014). Recent evidence shows that in East Asian countries, premarital cohabitation rates are also rising, fertility rates are declining, and divorce rates are increasing. Yet, considerable international differences in the prevalence and timing of these events during the transition to adulthood prevail. In the European context these are assumed to be attributable to societal differences (Buchman & Kriesi, 2011). This paper examines how national differences in welfare regimes and cultural contexts moderate the demographic trends mentioned above. To this end, it compares the transition to adulthood in two national contexts, which differ greatly in their welfare and cultural regimes: China and Germany. As existing studies have mostly focused on differences in the prevalence and timing of premarital cohabitation and/or marriage across culturally homogeneous areas, e.g., European societies (Hoem, Kostova, Jasilioniene, & Murean, 2009; Kalmijn, 2007, 2011; Kiernan, 2001; Nazio & Blossfeld, 2003), and as small-N cross-national comparisons can be especially helpful in answering questions about the moderating influence of national contextual differences such as public policies and cultural contexts (Yu, 2015), a comparative study of these two cases can yield innovative findings.

Premarital cohabitation and entry into first marriage are usually viewed as important events in the process of becoming an adult in contemporary societies (Billari & Liefbroer, 2010). They are regarded as important markers of social and psychological maturity (Hoem et al., 2009). Specifically, unmarried cohabitation has evolved into a usual part of the partnership stabilization process in many countries, where fewer and fewer couples get married without prior cohabitation. The major routes into marriage have thus considerably changed, as has become apparent with increasing rates of premarital cohabitation in the past few decades (Le Goff, 2002; Schneider, 2008). By studying the prevalence and timing of both premarital cohabitation and first marriage, international similarities and differences in partnership formation patterns across societies become apparent. While prevalence is the extent to which an event occurs during the transition to adulthood, timing refers to the age at which these events occur, the respective age variance, and the duration between the specific events (Buchmann & Kriesi, 2011).

The main aspects which can be assumed to moderate the prevalence and timing of premarital cohabitation and first marriage in a cross-national perspective are cultural differences as well as variations in welfare regimes, the latter aspect resulting in institutional variation (Mayer, 2004). On the one hand, national welfare regimes exert influence on the strength of family ties, shape individual opportunities and restrictions, and thus affect the prevalence and timing of events during the transition to adulthood. Long periods of education, for example, entail delays, such as a later exit from the parental household, postponed partnering, and fertility (Vogel, 2002). On the other hand, cultural regimes and kinship structures shape ideals relating to partnership and family. Norms provide guidance and regulation across individual life courses (Billari & Liefbroer, 2010). Cultural regimes thereby influence premarital cohabitation and marriage patterns through family norms, that is, “norms and attitudes toward the roles of men and women in the family and obligations to support family members” (Jappens & Van Bavel, 2012, p. 94). As cultural regimes differ, individual life course trajectories often differ cross-nationally (Mayer, 2004). Germany and China are chosen as comparative cases as they differ with regard to the moderating variables of interest: welfare state regulations and cultural regimes.

China is a productivist welfare regime, meaning that all aspects of state policy, including social policy, are subordinated to economic/industrial objectives, while the state is mostly growth-oriented (Holliday, 2000). The Chinese welfare regime is based on a combination of self-help expectation and risk-pooling (Kim, 2016, p. 9ff.). In China, very few regulations alleviate the differences between social groups with regard to affordable housing (Ringen & Ngok, 2013).

Conservative-corporatist welfare states, such as Germany, provide benefits based on insurance principles (Motel-Klingebiel, Tesch-Roemer, & von Kondratowitz, 2005) and social policies reinforce a male breadwinner–female career model (Cooke & Baxter, 2010). In conservative-corporatist welfare states, adolescents can receive state support in financing their rent, which makes them less dependent on their own resources or their family of origin (Mulder, Clark, & Wagner, 2006). Given these benefits, and the substantial supply of rental apartments, it is easier for young partnered adults to cohabit in their own flat (Nazio & Blossfeld, 2003).

While China exhibits a collectivist culture, and patrilineal kinship systems are prevalent (Jiang & Sánchez-Barricarte, 2012; Nauck, 2007; Trommsdorf, 1995), Germany is characterized by an individualistic culture, and a bilinear kinship system is widespread (Schwarz, Trommsdorff, Gang Zheng, & Shaohua Shi, 2010)...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• “Enjoy the Heat of a Log, and Heed the Advice of the Elders”: Religious, Educational, and Neighborhood Determinants of Parental Influence on Spousal Choice in Nepal
• “…And Here We Are…”: Influencing Factors of Intimate Partner Preference among Married Couples in Nigeria
• Intergenerational Conflicts and Resistance of Daughters in Suburban Turkey
• Changing Gender Role Expectations in the Family Formation Process through the Lens of Ambivalence
• Educational Assortative Mating and Female Breadwinning Trajectories: A Group-Based Trajectory Analysis
• Dating & Mating in Adolescence: A Model to Predict Pathways of Relationship Outcomes☆
• The Transition to Adulthood in Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures: Prevalence and Timing of Premarital Cohabitation and First Marriage in Germany and China
• Marriage and Cohabitation among Rural and Urban Women in Western Mexico
• Living Apart Together Relationships in Later Life: Constructing an Account of Relational Maintenance
• Technology Use and Its Association with Romantic Relationships
• The Aftermath of Dating Relationship Dissolution in Emerging Adulthood: A Review
• About the Authors
• Index