Splitting Up or Getting Married? Competing Risk Analysis of Transitions Among Cohabiting Couples in Sweden

In this article, we investigate which ideational variables influence the propensity of cohabiting couples to transform their union into marriage, separation or continued cohabitation. The question is particularly relevant in the Swedish context of considerable social acceptance of unmarried cohabitation even among parents. A two-wave panel study including 705 never-married respondents cohabiting at the time of the first survey shows that ideational factors influence subsequent behaviour, even when different sets of control variables are included in the model. Familistic attitudes, work-related values and reflections about the quality of the relationship prove to be predictors of the transition to either marriage or separation even when intentions are taken into account.