title: Repartnering: the relevance of parenthood and gender to cohabitation and remarriage among the formerly married.
abstract: This paper is an exploratory analysis of the impact of current and anticipated parenthood on cohabitation and remarriage among those formerly living in marriage-type relationships. The focus on children is embedded within a broader analysis of repartnering which takes account of other factors, including gender. Quantitative and qualitative analyses are used, with a multivariate analysis of repartnering patterns, using data from the General Household Survey, being complemented by in-depth interview data examining the attitudes of the formerly married to future relationships. The paper demonstrates that parenthood has a statistically significant effect on the likelihood of formerly married women repartnering, with a higher number of children being associated with a lower probability of repartnering. The presence of children can work against repartnering in a variety of ways. Children place demands on their parents and can deter or object to potential partners. Parents may see their parental role as more important than, and a barrier to, new relationships. However, mothers are typically looking for partners for themselves rather than fathers for their children. Among formerly married people without children, the desire to become a parent encourages repartnering. The paper concludes that parenthood should be a key consideration in analyses of repartnering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Warwick.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lampard
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Peggs
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008571:Men / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012737:Sex Factors; D015406:Single Parent / Q000523:psychology; D012961:Sociology; D006113:United Kingdom; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*