Love or Money? Marriage Intentions among Young Cohabitors in Norway and Sweden.

Abstract

Using data from Sweden and Norway on cohabitors aged 25 to 35, we examine the association between socio-economic resources, relationship quality and commitment and cohabitors’ marriage intentions. The individualization process, i.e. the arguably growing importance of individual choice, leads us to assume that relationship assessments are more important predictors of marriage intentions than socio-economic variables. Nonetheless, multivariate results show that university education and having a partner whose education is higher than one’s own increase the likelihood that cohabitors intend to marry. Likewise, being satisfied with and committed to the union is positively related to having marriage plans. Separate analyses for men and women reveal that whereas commitment is positively related to women’s marriage intentions, men’s marriage intentions are significantly more influenced by their own education, income, as well as the income of their partners. In this sense, one conclusion to be drawn is that both love and money are associated with cohabitors’ intention to marry.

Keywords cohabitation, commitment, marriage intentions, Norway, satisfaction, socio-economic resources, Sweden