Parental divorce and union disruption among young adults in Sweden

Ying Hong, Stockholm University
Michael Gahler, Stockholm University
Eva Bernhardt, Stockholm University

It is well established that the children of divorce are disproportionately likely to end their own marriages. Most studies of the intergenerational transmission of union dissolution deal with divorce, i.e. formal marriage disruptions, only, and focus on the situation in the United States. In our study, we include non-marital as well as marital unions, and we focus on Sweden, a country well-known as one of the forerunners in the so-called Second Demographic Transition, and where cohabitation is prevalent, one could almost say normative, among young adults. Studies of union disruption in contemporary Sweden are rare. Our study will extend previous analyses by including cohabiting unions, which seems especially important since we are analysing the behaviour of young adults. In addition, we will be able to take account of the level of conflict in the parental home, an often neglected but potentially very important factor in the analysis of union disruption.