- Title
- Trajectories of Couple Relationship Quality after Childbirth: Does Marriage Matter?
- Author(s)
- Marcia J. Carlson Marcia Carlson (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
- Alicia G. VanOrman Alicia VanOrman (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
- Abstract
- Marital quality typically declines after the birth of a (first) child, as parenthood brings new identities and responsibilities for mothers and fathers. Yet, it is less clear whether nonmarital, cohabiting relationship quality follows a similar trajectory. This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=2,108) with latent growth curve models to examine relationship quality for co-resident couples over nine years after a child's birth. Findings suggest that marriage at birth is protective for couple relationship quality, net of various individual characteristics associated with marriage, compared to all cohabiting couples at birth; however, marriage does not differentiate relationship quality compared to the subset of stably-cohabiting couples. Also, cohabiting couples who get married after the birth have better relationship quality compared to all cohabitors who do not marry though again, not compared to stably-cohabiting couples.
- Creation Date
- 2013-09
- Section URL ID
- CRCW
- Paper Number
- WP13-14-FF.pdf
- URL
- https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/sites/fragilefamilies/files/wp13-14-ff.pdf
- File Function
- Jel
- J120, J130, D190
- Keyword(s)
- Marriage, children, parenthood, cohabiting, quality
- Suppress
- false
- Series
- 8