Family initiation among Swedish males born 1936-1964: The choice between marriage and cohabitation

This paper examines family initiation behaviour among Swedish males born in the period 1936-64 with data from the 1985 survey of Swedish males, which had about 3200 respondents. The study provides a systematic description of the national pattern of conjugal-union formation, within the context of theories about the relationship between various demographic and socioeconomic variables on the one hand and family initiation on the other.

Analysis using separate multiplicative hazard models shows that cohabiting men are more likely to marry than single men. Results from a competing-risks analysis show a recent reversal of the great preference of unmarried cohabitation over marriage that had continued for the last few decades.