Transformation of Partnership Formation in Eastern Europe: The Legacy of the Past Demographic Divide

: Puur A, Rahnu L, Maslauskaite A, Stankuniene V, Zakharov S

Publisher: J COMPARATIVE FAMILY STUDIES

: 2012

: Journal of Comparative Family Studies

: JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE FAMILY STUDIES

: J COMP FAM STUD

: 43

: 3

: 389

: +

: 31

: 0047-2328

This article analyses the transformation in the mode of partnership formation in seven countries of Eastern Europe. The aim of the study is to provide an up-to-date account of the switch from direct marriage to non-marital cohabitation as it has progressed from the 1960s to the mid-2000s, using data from the Generations and Gender Surveys. Unlike previous analyses of partnership formation, we examined the extent to which cross-national variations, in the onset and scale of transformation characteristic of the Second Demographic Transition (SDT), could be linked to nuptiality regimes that existed in the region in the 19th and early 20th centuries. With few exceptions, the results support the notion of correspondence between historical and contemporary patterns. Forerunners in the transition to partnership formation outside marriage tend to come from areas which exhibited a late/low prevalence of marriage; the latecomers are typically situated east of the Hajnal line. Thus our study corroborates earlier findings pertaining to the legacy the historical marriage patterns, extending them further, from the onset of the first to the second demographic transition. Our results are also in line with idea of the spatial continuity across successive waves of demographic innovation demonstrated in several studies for Western Europe. The findings reported in the article make a similar argument for Eastern Europe. In a broader framework, the results point to diversity of pathways along which family and fertility characteristic of the SDT have evolved. In view of the evidence presented in the article, Eastern Europe seems to embody two variants with regard to synchronism between a shift from direct marriage to non-marital cohabitation and postponement of childbearing.