The Formation and Dissolution of Second Unions: Marriage and Cohabitation in Sweden and Norway

As a result of high divorce rates and increasing proportions of women in relatively unstable cohabiting relationships, the population of women potentially entering second unions has increased. Using recent survey data from Sweden and Norway and life table techniques, this study examines both the rate at which women form second unions and the type of union they choose to enter (either marriage or cohabitation) as well as how this process has changed over time. In addition, the extent to which women in second premarital cohabitations and postmarital cohabitations marry and separate is addressed. The results show that nonmarital cohabitation is by far the preferred type of second union in both Sweden and Norway, although this type of union became widespread in Sweden earlier than in Norway. The increase in nonmarital cohabitation appears to have contributed to a decline or delay in remarriage among the divorced population, asfew women marry a second time without cohabiting first. The differences between Sweden and Norway with respect to both the prevalence of nonmarital cohabitation and its function in the family formation process are discussed.