Cohabiting and Married Individuals' Relations With Their Partner's Parents

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12397
• Date: 01 August 2017
• Author: Kenneth Aarskaug Wiik,Eva Bernhardt
• Published date: 01 August 2017

K A W Statistics Norway

E B Stockholm University∗

Cohabiting and Married Individuals’ Relations With

Their Partner’s Parents

Using Norwegian survey data on partneredindi-

viduals ages 18 to 55 (N=4,061; 31% cohab-

itors), the current study investigated differences

across marital and cohabiting unions regard-

ing the patterns of contact with the parents of

the partner. In addition to investigating the fre-

quency of such contact, we assessed the nature

of and perceived quality of contacts with the

partner’s parents. The authors grouped respon-

dents according to whether they had children

with their partner and controlled for a range of

selection characteristics. Results conrmed that

parents with preschoolchildren met their in-laws

more frequently than the childless, irrespective

of union type. Married respondents as well as

cohabitors with preschool childrenreported bet-

ter relations with their partner’s parents than

childless cohabitors. Taken together, the results

imply that having small children was more deci-

sive for the relationship with the parents of the

partner than getting married, particularly with

regard to contact frequency.

Despite increasing focus on in-law relations

(e.g., Kim, Zarit, Fingerman, & Han, 2015; Lee,

Spitze, & Logan, 2003; Shih & Pyke, 2016),

few studies have explicitly investigated relations

Research Department, Statistics Norway, P.O. Box 8131

Dept. NO-0033, Oslo, Norway (kaw@ssb.no).

∗Sociology Department, Stockholm University,106 91

Stockholm, Sweden.

Key Words: cohabitation, in-laws, intergenerational rela-

tions, marriage, Norway.

with the parents of the partner across marital

and cohabiting unions (Artis & Martinez, 2016;

Daatland, 2007; Hogerbrugge & Dykstra, 2009).

This research conrms that the family ties of

cohabitors are weaker than among those mar-

ried, although ndings so far are mixed. With the

exception of Hogerbrugge and Dykstra (2009),

these extant studies either focused on coresiden-

tial unions in mid- to late life or were conducted

in a context where cohabitation was practiced by

a selected few.

Using recent Norwegian survey data on part-

nered individuals ages 18 to 55 (N=4,061, 31%

cohabitors), this study increases our knowledge

about possible differences across marital and

cohabiting unions regarding the patterns of con-

tact with the parents of the partner. In Nor-

way, one in four couples is currently cohabit-

ing, and more than half of rst births are to

cohabiting couples (Statistics Norway, 2016a,

2016b), and the living arrangement is essentially

equal to marriage in terms of public policy and

nearly completely socially acceptable (Noack,

2010). Studying in-law relations across marital

and cohabiting unions in a “cohabitation land”

(Syltevik, 2010) will give valuable insights into

the nature of cohabitation and potential future

developments in other countries where the union

type is less common.

In addition to investigating the frequency

of such contact, we assess the nature of and

perceived quality of the contact with the part-

ner’s parents. In particular, we add to the

literature by separating between married and

cohabiting couples with and without common

Journal of Marriage and Family 79 (August 2017): 1111–1124 1111

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12397