Gender Gap in Repartnering: The Role of Parental Status and Custodial Arrangements

Abstract

Objective: This study assesses whether parenthood influences repartnering for women and men and explores how repartnering is associated with parental status of the prospective partners. Background: Previous research has not demonstrated whether gender differences in repartnering are conditional on the presence of children. This study aims to better disentangle the specific gender differentials in repartnering probabilities conditional on parenthood and child custody status. Method: The analytical sample consists of 5,372 women and 3,375 men who reported at least one partnership dissolution in the British Understanding Society survey. Multilevel event history models with Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations are used to estimate the probabilities of (a) finding a new partner and (b) finding a new childless partner or a new partner who has children. Results: The results suggest that mothers, and to a lesser extent fathers, are less likely to repartner than their childless counterparts. Among parents who have child custody, there emerges a distinct gender gap because mothers exhibit a significantly lower rate of repartnering than fathers. Finally, coresident single parents are relatively less likely to repartner with childless individuals, and single fathers more frequently form two‐parent stepfamilies than do mothers. Conclusion: This suggests the presence of a gender divide in repartnering that is especially apparent when child custody is taken into account. The presence of children also reduces the possibility of forming unions with childless individuals.

Divorce, Repartnering, and Stepfamilies: A Decade in Review

“…Looking beyond the United States, where studies tend to investigate repartnering broadly to include marriage or cohabitation, a large body of work indicates that mothers in multiple countries have lower rates of repartnering than fathers (e.g., Di Nallo, ; Gałęzewska, Perelli‐Harris, & Berrington, ; Gray, ; Ivanova, Kalmijn, & Uunk, ). However, some evidence indicates that parenthood is only associated with reduced repartnering when parents live with their children (e.g., Beaujouan, ; Vanassche, Corijn, Matthijs, & Swicegood, ).…”

“…However, some evidence indicates that parenthood is only associated with reduced repartnering when parents live with their children (e.g., Beaujouan, ; Vanassche, Corijn, Matthijs, & Swicegood, ). Studies from multiple countries indicate that childless men and women have similar likelihoods of repartnering (e.g., Beaujouan, ; Di Nallo, ; Gray, ; Ivanova et al, ). Leveraging a change in custody law in Belgium, Schnor, Pasteels, and Van Bavel () demonstrated that Flemish mothers with sole custody were less likely to repartner than those with shared custody, even though mothers with sole custody also tended to have other characteristics (e.g., high family orientation) associated with higher rates of remarriage.…”

Gender and Changes in Household Wealth after the Dissolution of Marriage and Cohabitation in Germany

“…Studies on divorce have generally found re‐partnering to offset part of the negative effects of union dissolution on women's wealth, but even after remarriage, their wealth remains lower compared to the continuously married (Painter et al, 2015; Wilmoth & Koso, 2002). At the same time, given that men in general re‐partner more often and faster than women (Di Nallo, 2019), re‐partnering might actually increase the average gap in wealth between men and women following union dissolution.…”

May your wealth be easily divisible by two: marital dissolution and personal wealth of German men and women over the life course

“…Additionally, men are likely to hold more absolute wealth immediately after a divorce which can be invested, as pre-marital wealth differences are not considered in the division of property and thus maintained. Although re-marriage has been shown to be a viable strategy to increase available income after divorce (Jansen et al, 2009) and to partially recover wealth (Wilmoth & Koso, 2002), men are more likely to re-partner than women, particularly if women reside with children (Di Nallo, 2018). Thus, I anticipate wealth accumulation to be lower for women than men in the postdivorce years, leading to men's quicker recovery of wealth losses than women (Gendered Recovery Hypothesis).…”

“…The presence of children has also been shown to limit residential parents' likelihood to re-partner and speed of re-partnering. Single parents thus benefit less or only at a later stage from the potential economic benefits of a new relationship (de Graaf & Kalmijn, 2003;Di Nallo, 2018;Pasteels & Mortelmans, 2017;Wu & Schimmele, 2005).…”