Dos décadas de transformaciones de la nupcialidad uruguaya. La convergencia hacia la segunda transición demográfica / Two Decades of Transformations of Uruguayan Marriage Patterns. The Convergence towards the Second Demographic Transition

Abstract

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar las principales tendencias de la nupcialidad uruguaya durante las últimas dos décadas. Si bien el trabajo se apoya en las grandes líneas explicativas de la segunda transición demográfica (STD) para interpretar la evolución de los distintos indicadores de la vida familiar, su carácter es básicamente descriptivo.Con un desfasaje temporal de aproximadamente dos décadas, la nupcialidad uruguaya experimentó transformaciones similares a las que se presentaron en los países desarrollados desde finales de los años sesenta. Entre mediados de la década de 1980 y los primeros años de 2000 la tasa de nupcialidad se redujo a la mitad, mientras que las uniones consensuales experimentaron un crecimiento de gran magnitud entre los jóvenes de todos los estratos educativos. En 1987 la proporción de personas de 20 a 24 años que estaba en unión consensual alcanzaba a poco menos de 20% del total de jóvenes que había iniciado su vida conyugal, en 2007 representaba más de 80%. Concomitantemente, el divorcio se duplicó y las uniones (legales y de hecho) empezaron a disolverse con duraciones cada vez más cortas. Por último, se registró un aplazamiento muy moderado de la edad de entrada en unión, que parece obedecer a la polarización social en los calendarios conyugales entre jóvenes de distintos niveles educativos.Es motivo de discusión si las transformaciones recientes ocurridas en la esfera de las relaciones familiares en Uruguay responden a un cambio en el patrón de valores similar al descrito para los países occidentales desarrollados. La discusión es pertinente en la medida en que la población uruguaya experimentó en los últimos años un marcado proceso de exclusión social y tanto las especificidades culturales como las políticas públicas desempeñan un papel relevante en las formas en que se manifiesta el cambio familiar. Sin embargo resulta difícil explicar la similitud de las tendencias de cambio familiar en Uruguay respecto a aquellos países, sin hacer referencia al patrón global de cambio familiar que encierra la segunda transición demográfica. AbstractThis article seeks to present the main trends in Uruguayan marriage rates over the past two decades. Although the study is based on the main explanatory lines of the second demographic transition (SDT) to interpret the evolution of the various indicators of family life, it is basically descriptive.Over a period of approximately two decades, Uruguayan marriage rates underwent similar transformations to those that occurred in developed countries in the late 1960s. Between the mid 1980s and the early years of 2000, marriage rates were halved whereas consensual unions increased sharply among young people of all levels of educational attainment. In 1987, the proportion of persons ages 20 to 24 living in consensual unions accounted for just under 20% of the total number of young people who had begun their conjugal lives whereas in 2007, it accounted for over 80%. Concomitantly, the divorce rate doubled and unions (both legal and de facto) began to dissolve within increasingly short periods of time. Lastly, a slight postponement was recorded in the age of entering unions, which appears to reflect the social polarization in the marital time-frames of young people with different levels of educational attainment.It is a matter of debate whether the recent transformations that occurred within the sphere of family relations in Uruguay reflect a change in the pattern of values similar to that described for developed western countries. And the discussion is relevant insofar as in recent years, the Uruguayan population has experienced a marked process of social exclusion while cultural specificities and public policies have played a key role in the ways family changes are expressed. However, it is difficult to explain the similarity in the trends in family changes in Uruguay regarding those countries without referring to the overall pattern of family change entailed by the second demographic transition.

Families in Latin America: Trends, Singularities, and Contextual Factors

“…Although the recent increase in cohabitation has affected all social strata, it has been particularly salient for the better-educated groups, who previously confined their unions to formal marriage. The contemporary coexistence of traditional and modern types of cohabitation, which have different meanings and underlying motivations across social classes, adds another layer of complexity to union formation patterns (Covre-Sussai et al 2015) and fuels the debate on whether the second demographic transition is gaining ground in the region (Quilodrán 1999, García & Rojas 2004, Cabella 2009, Verona et al 2015, Ramm & Salinas 2019.…”

The effect of union dissolution on the fertility of women in Montevideo, Uruguay

“…A flurry of other studies points in the same direction: the reproductive behaviour of young cohorts is more polarised than that of old ones. Low-educated women have their first child younger than highly educated women do, and the difference in the age at first birth is increasing rather than diminishing from one cohort to the next (Fostik 2014;Varela, Fostik, and Fernández Soto 2012;Videgain 2007;Cardozo and Iervolino 2009;Cabella 2009;Filardo 2011). The Uruguayan fertility curve is bimodal: the first peak is located around age 20 and the second one around age 30.…”

“…In Uruguay, since the mid-1980s, a series of transformations in the formation and the dissolution of conjugal unions have led to a pattern in which unions are more 'flexible': they often begin in an informal way and they are less stable than they used to be. Specifically, previous studies point to substantial changes in three features: the timing of the first union, the type of union, and the intensity of union dissolution (Cabella 1998;Cabella 2009;Cabella 2008;Cabella 2007;Filgueira 1996;Fernández Soto 2010;Paredes 2003;Cabella and Fernández Soto 2017). Among the main changes is the 'boom' of cohabitation (Esteve and Lesthaeghe 2016;Esteve, Lesthaeghe, and López-Gay 2012;Lesthaeghe 1991;Binstock and Cabella 2011) that delays or replaces marriage and the steady increase in separations and divorces (García and Rojas 2002;Quilodrán 2008;Cerrutti and Binstock 2009;Cabella 1998;Cabella 2009;Cabella 2007;Fernández Soto 2010).…”