Cohabitation, Marriage, and Entry into Motherhood

Findings indicate that there are racial differences in the effect of cohabitation on the life courses of Black and White women. The Teachman and Polonko model of union formation is partly supported. Cohabitation does not in itself promote childbearing. The time spent in cohabitation and the first 8 months of marriage determine first births. Findings show that cohabiting White women are more likely to be pregnant when marrying than noncohabiting White women. Marriage is more likely among cohabiting White women who are pregnant than noncohabiting White women. The transition to first marital birth is the same for noncohabiting White women and cohabiting White women who are not pregnant. Among Black women the probability of marriage before their first birth is the same for pregnant cohabiting women and never married women. The results suggest that cohabitation does not replace marriage as the context for childbearing but is the context for White women in the transition to marriage. The effect of cohabitation on first birth timing is dependent on the duration of time spent cohabiting. White women cohabiting for over a year are 93% more likely to have a first birth within the first 8 months of marriage and 65% more likely to have a first birth within the first year of marriage than noncohabiting women. White women who cohabited between 7 months and 1 year are 108% more likely to have their first birth in the first half of the second year of marriage than noncohabiting women. White women cohabiting within 7 months and 1 year have the same likelihood of a marital first birth at all other marital durations as noncohabiting women. Data is obtained from the 1987 and 1988 National Survey of Families and Households on White and Black women who first married between 1970 and 1984 without a first birth before marriage and who were aged less than 30 years (1311 marriages and 745 cohabiting unions before marriage). 1763 women out of 2056 women in the sample have a marital first birth during the first 3 years of marriage (1555 White women and 208 Black women).