Debt, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Young Adulthood

Abstract

Despite growing evidence that debt influences pivotal life events in early and young adulthood, the role of debt in the familial lives of young adults has received relatively little attention. Using data from the NLSY 1997 cohort (N = 6,749) and a discrete-time competing risks hazard model framework, I test whether the transition to first union is influenced by a young adult’s credit card and education loan debt above and beyond traditional educational and labor market characteristics. I find that credit card debt is positively associated with cohabitation for men and women, and that women with education loan debt are more likely than women without such debt to delay marriage and transition into cohabitation. Single life may be difficult to afford, but marital life is unaffordable as well. Cohabitation presents an alternative to single life, but not necessarily a marital substitute for these young adults.

Normative Beliefs about Money in Families: Balancing Togetherness, Autonomy, and Equality

“…For example, after adjusting for other model variables, about one-third of respondents supported cohabiting parents sharing all of their earnings, whereas less than a quarter of respondents indicated cohabitors without children should share all of their income. These results are consistent with the possibility that cohabiting parents' integration of finances may be more than a strategy to counter economic burdens, an empirical question posited by previous scholars (Addo, 2014).…”

“…A majority of non-marital births now occur in cohabiting unions and parenthood has become increasingly uncoupled from marriage, except among college graduates (Shelly Lundberg & Pollak, 2014). It remains unclear if cohabiting parents integrate finances because of similar beliefs in family unity at the time co-parenting begins or whether joining finances reflects practical considerations, such as protecting against financial hardships (Addo, 2014). Some evidence indicates parenthood may be the key family transition in which people consider financial integration to be appropriate (Barlow, 2008).…”

Can’t afford a baby? Debt and young Americans

“…Chiteji's analysis is also of an earlier cohort that was less exposed to debt than later cohorts coming of age after 2000. Young adult debt portfolios have shifted over time, becoming more dominated by student loans, which can have different effects on early life transitions than other unsecured debts such as credit card debt and than secured debt like mortgages (Addo, 2014; Bozick & Estacion, 2014; Houle, 2014). The transition to adulthood has long involved a transition to debt, but contemporary cohorts differ from past cohorts in having more complex debt-holdings.…”

Early Women, Late Men: Timing Attitudes and Gender Differences in Marriage

“…Following these seminal frameworks, empirical research on marriage has a strong tradition of examining gender differences in economic influences on marriage, as well as changes over time in those influences (Addo, 2014; Domínguez-Folgueras & Castro-Martín, 2008; Lloyd, 2006; McClendon, 2016; Piotrowski, Kalleberg, & Rindfuss, 2015; Xie, Raymo, Goyette, & Thornton, 2003; S. T. Yabiku, 2004; Yu & Xie, 2015).…”