Emerging Forms of Union Formation in the Philippines

This paper draws on recent national survey data for the Philippines to examine changes in multiple indicators of the union formation and sexual systems, and then describes the social distributions of various aspects of those behaviors. Some features of the pattern echo the 'second demographic transition' as reported in many other parts of the globe. This includes rising levels of premarital sex and cohabitation, but notably excludes the virtual collapse of family-building as seen in many other societies. The paper classifies the main types of union formation pattern at national scale for each of the sexes, and then disaggregates into the social distribution of each component of the overall pattern. This disaggregation is carried out in a framework defined by the cells of a socioeconomic grid based on simple urban versus rural residence and schooling dimensions. Employing this grid it is shown that the various components of the overall union and sexual system have contrasting social distributions which hint at the underlying processes involved. The analysis provides both a measurement approach suitable for large scale household surveys and a set of turn-of-the-century empirical benchmarks that will support ongoing survey-based monitoring of these important patterns.