The End of “Till Death do us Part”? Determinants for Living in a Cohabitation Union in Spain and Poland

Abstract

Living in a cohabitation union is a more and more popular way of life in the contemporary societies. Changes in family behaviour and formation, such as increases in births outside of marriage, age at fi rst marriage, and divorce have occurred in western countries with diff erent paces and intensity as the elements of Second Demographic Transition (SDT). Th e aim of the article is to investigate the main determinants which infl uence attitudes towards living in a cohabitation union in two catholic countries: Spain and Poland. Using the European Social Survey conducted in Poland and Spain in two diff erent moments 2006 and 2018, we carried out ordinal regression models in order to confi rm which variables aff ect more the choice of this union. Th e results showed that educational level, placement on the left -right scale and religion are the prevailing predictors in both countries and both periods of time, but with diff erent intensities, being greater for the Polish case.

Marital Beliefs and Concerns of Spanish Emerging Adults

“…Spain, possibly as a backlash to its authoritarian past with Franco's dictatorship, has seen very fast attitudinal change regarding divorce, cohabitation, and related phenomena (Juszczyk-Frelkiewicz, 2021). These perceptions often arise from a conscious rejection of traditional family structures (Tobío, 2001).…”