The Transition from Cohabitation to Marriage in Spain: Differences and Determinants in Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples

Anna Caprinali , University of Trento

Due to the exposure that sexuality has acquired in the public opinion and the legal innovations introduced in the recent decades, literature on same-sex households and homosexual living arrangements is an expanding area of research in family studies both on the qualitative and the quantitative side. Relying on these studies and starting from a separatists’ perspective my master’s degree project has been aimed to study the transition to marriage in cohabiting same-sex and different-sex couples. The idea, more specifically, was to understand whether and to what extend same-sex and different-sex couples who already share benefits of being co-resident may differ in the hazard to get married and in the time at risk by trying to deduce insights on the role of sexuality in the process. In order to investigate this research question the Fertility Survey of INE (2018) have been used and Event History Analysis (EHA) has been chosen as main methodology. Results suggest that a difference exists - even significant just for couples composed by two women - so that same-sex couples seem to present lower hazards of getting married and longer survival risks. Moreover, addressing other determinants, whether education seems to strongly increase, in general, the hazards of getting married, this is less true for same sex couples, where lower hazards and reverse effects have been found. Finally, being involved in a mixed couples have found to be significantly positively correlated for gay couples on the hazards of getting married.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe