Cohabitation has become more common in communities that have experienced demographic transitions, including in Taiwan, and hence it has become a research interest. However, our understanding of cohabitation in Taiwan has been limited to indirect estimations and cross-sectional analysis due to the lack of appropriate data. These analyses can provide a quick overview of the prevalence of cohabitation at specific periods, but they cannot portray the risk of cohabitation over the life course. Using recent panel data from the Taiwan Youth Project, we estimate cohabitation risk among young adults in their mid-20s to early-30s. We also examine the determinants of cohabitation. Results show that being a woman, not employed, living in emerging regions, not having varying residential locations, ever having sex (especially at an earlier age), and being more open to premarital intimacy were associated with higher odds of cohabitation.
AllendorfK.ThorntonA. (2015). Caste and choice: The influence of developmental idealism on marriage behavior. American Journal of Sociology121(1):243–287. https://doi.org/10.1086/681968
2.
AllendorfK.ThorntonA.MitchellC.Young-DeMarcoL. (2019). The influence of developmental idealism on marital attitudes, expectations, and timing. Journal of Family Issues, 40(17), 2359–2388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513x19856642
CaiY. (2010). China’s below-replacement fertility: Government policy or socioeconomic development?Population and Development Review, 36(3), 419–440. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2010.00341.x
EsteveA.KashyapR.Garcia RomanJ.ChengY. H. A.FukudaS.NieW.LeeH. O. (2020). Demographic change and increasing late singlehood in East Asia, 2010–2050. Demographic Research, 43, 1367–1398. https://doi.org/10.4054/demres.2020.43.46
9.
HemezP.ManningW. (2017a). Over twenty-five years of change in cohabitation experience in the US, 1987-2013. In Family profiles. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family and Marriage Research.
10.
HemezP.ManningW. D. (2017b). Thirty years of change in women’s premarital cohabitation experience. In Family profiles. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family and Marriage Research.
11.
HeuvelineP.TimberlakeJ. M. (2004). The role of cohabitation in family formation: The united states in comparative perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family66(5):1214–1230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00088.x
12.
HorowitzJ.GrafN.LivingstonG. (2019). Marriage and cohabitation in the United States. Pew Research Center.
13.
JonesG. (2018). What is driving marriage and cohabitation in low fertility countries? In DudleyPostonJrL. (Ed.), Low Fertility Regimes and Demographic and Societal Change (pp. 149–166). Springer.
14.
JungY. Y.TsaiM. C. T. (2008). Cohabitation, marriage values and marital satisfaction: A study of Taiwan society. Journal of Taiwan Studies(5):43–72.
15.
KalmijnM. (2011). The influence of men’s income and employment on marriage and cohabitation: Testing oppenheimer's theory in europe. European Journal of Population, 27(3), 269–293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-011-9238-x
LesthaegheR. (2014). The second demographic transition: a concise overview of its development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(51), 18112–18115. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1420441111
18.
LesthaegheR. (2020). The second demographic transition, 1986–2020: sub-replacement fertility and rising cohabitation—a global update. Genus, 76(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41118-020-00077-4
19.
OppenheimerV. K. (2003). Cohabiting and marriage during young men’s career-development process. Demography, 40(1), 127–149. https://doi.org/10.2307/3180815
20.
Perelli-HarrisB.BerringtonA.BerghammerC.KeizerR.LappegårdT.MynarskaM.EvansA.IsupovaO.KlaernerA.VignoliD. (2014). Towards a new understanding of cohabitation. Demographic Research, 31, 1043–1078. https://doi.org/10.4054/demres.2014.31.34
21.
RaymoJ. M.IwasawaM.BumpassL. (2009). Cohabitation and family formation in Japan. Demography, 46(4), 785–803. https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.0.0075
SasslerS.LichterD. T. (2020). Cohabitation and marriage: Complexity and diversity in union-formation patterns. Journal of Marriage and Family82(1):35–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12617
ThorntonA. (2001). The developmental paradigm, reading history sideways, and family change. Demography, 38(4), 449–465. https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2001.0039
26.
ThorntonA.BinstockG.YountK. M.Abbasi-ShavaziM. J.GhimireD.XieY. (2012). International fertility change: new data and insights from the developmental idealism framework. Demography, 49(2), 677–698. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-012-0097-9
27.
Van de KaaD. J. (1987). Europe's second demographic transition. Population Bulletin, 42(1), 1–59.
28.
WangY. T.YangW. S. (2019). Changes and trends in family structure in Taiwan, 1990 to 2010. Journal of Family Issues40(14), 1896–1911. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513x19863203
29.
YangC. L. (2004). Fertility implication and estimate of cohabitation in Taiwan. Taiwanese Journal of Sociology, 32, 189–213. https://doi.org/10.6786/tjs.200406.0189
