Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples' Divorce Risks: The Role of Cohabitation and Childbearing

Abstract

Objective

We investigate whether differences in the length of premarital cohabitation, children from previous unions, and childbearing in the union explain the elevated divorce risk observed in female couples when compared to their male and different-sex counterparts.

Background

The underlying mechanisms and pathways leading to the high divorce risk among same-sex couples, particularly female couples, remain poorly understood. The different legislative and normative contexts of same-sex unions may impact the roles that different factors play in their divorce risk.

Method

Using register data on same-sex and different-sex couples who entered legal unions in Finland in 2003–2020, we explore how premarital cohabitation, prior children, and childbearing together are associated with the risk of divorce.

Results

Female couples have 2.2 times the divorce risk than different-sex couples and 1.6 times than male couples when adjusted for age, education, and nationality. Limited premarital cohabitation predicts divorce in same-sex couples but not in different-sex couples. Prior children are associated with an increased divorce risk, and childbearing together is associated with a decreased divorce risk, but less so among same-sex couples than different-sex couples. After adjusting for these factors, female couples still have 2.1 times the divorce risk than different-sex couples and 1.2 times than male couples.

Conclusion

The findings highlight the importance of both past relationship experiences and current union characteristics in understanding instability in same-sex and different-sex unions, as well as the need to investigate how individual life trajectories shape the resilience and vulnerabilities of each union type.