Traditional and modern cohabitation in Latin America

Female-Headed Households and Living Conditions in Latin America

“…Together with the expansion of cohabitation, the percentage of children born out of wedlock and the number of single mothers have increased in the three decades from 1970 to 2000 (Esteve et al, 2012;Laplante et al, 2015). Some authors have connected the overall family changes described here to the onset of the Second Demographic Transition in Latin America (Covre-Sussai, Meuleman, Botterman, & Matthijs, 2015;Esteve et al, 2012;Lesthaeghe, 2014), which may have implications for changes in the context and nature of female headship, as we shall discuss in this paper.…”

“…Although we assume that the change of the wording of questionnaires from a male-oriented to gender-neutral definition of headship may have had an impact on the increase of female headship, we cannot disregard the possibility that the evolution of attitudes regarding the independence of women or the prevalence of female headship may also have influenced such change in the wording. These trends can be contextualized within the recent changes in family life which some authors have linked with the preliminary traces of the second demographic transition theory (Covre-Sussai, Meuleman, Botterman, & Matthijs, 2015;Esteve et al, 2012;Lesthaeghe, 2014;Pellegrino, Cabella, Paredes, Rollero & Varela, 2008). This transition, precipitated amongst other factors by female emancipation in the society, would favour an increase in female headship rates, not only in family circumstances historically associated with female headship, but for all women, regardless of the family situation.…”

First conjugal union and religion: Signs contrary to the Second Demographic Transition in Brazil?

“…The conjugal union pattern in Latin America is marked by the following two characteristics: early entry into first union and the increasing proportion of informal unions (Rosero-Bixby 1996;Vignoli 2005;Esteve, Lesthaeghe, and Lopez-Gay 2012;Esteve, López-Ruiz, and Spijker 2013;Covre-Sussai et al 2015). These two aspects are connected, as countries with an earlier age of entry into first union tend to also have a higher proportion of informal marriages (Castro Martin 2002;Fussell and Palloni 2004).…”

“…Furthermore, the proportion of consensual unions in the country has grown substantially. For example, the proportion of women between 25 and 29 years in a consensual union increased from 7.2% to 50.0% between 1970 and 2010 in Brazil Covre-Sussai et al 2015).…”

Introduction to the Special Collection on Separation, Divorce, Repartnering, and Remarriage around the World

“…In a meta-analysis of European studies, Matysiak, Styrc, and Vignoli (2014) found that while the negative gradient had emerged for the probability of divorce, it was not apparent with regard to the dissolution of cohabiting unions. In Latin America, where cohabitation among the less educated has long been common, there has been a more recent growth in 'modern' or 'new' cohabitation among the better educated as well, perhaps as a partial convergence to the European pattern of the Second Demographic Transition (Covre-Sussai et al 2014;Esteve, Lesthaege, and López-Gay 2012). That growth has coincided with a substantial rise in union dissolution, much of it due to separations rather than formal divorces.…”