Children and union formation in Sweden

We analyse the effects of children on union formation in Sweden. We compare men and women and examine the effects of own parenthood on men's and women's likelihood of entering a union with a partner who does or does not have co-resident children, controlling for other family and personal characteristics. Women, but not men, have increased their likelihood of entering unions with children, despite the greater increase in the numbers of such potential partners for men, and the avoidance of such unions by the highly educated of both sexes.