This article presents a nationwide study of family dissolution among cohabiting and married parents of three cohorts of Norwegian children born in 1980, 1986 and 1992 respectively. The study focuses on two main topics: the dissolution trend of consensual and marital unions, and factors affecting the dissolution rates of parental unions. The results show that children of cohabiting parents run a much higher risk of dissolution compared to children in marital unions and this risk is not diminishing as cohabitation becomes more widespread. Event history analysis shows that among important predictors of family dissolution the two most important are number of siblings and whether parents are married or not. Other important factors are mother's age upon entering the union, and the presence of older half-sisters/-brothers. The consequences for children living in consensual unions are discussed.
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