Indicators & Outcomes of Relationship Stability in Couples

研究记录了稳定婚姻和高质量关系的经济和社会优势，解释了为什么社会科学家对长期关系稳定的指标和结果非常感兴趣。这些研究中绝大多数只探讨异性恋夫妇之间的关系稳定性，许多研究利用的理论观点或明确或隐含地依赖于性别规范和角色，作为解释夫妻之间社会和经济行为的因素。包括同性伴侣的结合行为的分析提供了一个独特的机会来探索在缺乏男性和女性性别规范和角色相互作用的情况下关系稳定性的指标和结果。来自美国和加拿大的人口普查数据可能是唯一对这两方面都有充分数据的数据来源

Studies documenting both economic and social advantages to stable marriages and quality relationships explain why the indicators and outcomes of long-term relationship stability are of great interest to social scientists. The vast majority of these studies explore relationship stability exclusively among heterosexual couples, and many utilize theoretical perspectives that either explicitly or implicitly rely upon gender norms and roles as factors that explain social and economic behavior within couples. Analyses that include coupling behavior in same-sex couples provide a unique opportunity to explore indicators and outcomes of relationship stability in the absence of the interaction of male and female gender norms and roles. Census data from both the United States and Canada are probably the only data sources with sufficient data on both same-sex and different-sex couples to permit valid comparisons across varying coupling arrangements. The proposed study utilizes 2000 US Census data and 2001 Canadian Census data to describe the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of different-sex and same-sex couples and examine how co-residential stability affects these characteristics and economic outcomes. Using both the 2000 US Census 5-percent Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) and the 2001 Canadian Census long-form data, this study explores relationships among four coupling types-- heterosexual married couples, heterosexual unmarried partners (common-law partners in Canada), and same-sex male and female unmarried partners (common-law partners in Canada)--and compares individuals in these coupling arrangements with their non-cohabiting counterparts. The proposed analyses are designed to address the following specific aims: 1. Construct a demographic and socio-economic comparative portrait of non-cohabiting individuals and different-sex and same-sex couples in the United States and Canada. 2. Explore the effects of stable cohabitation on these demographic and socio-economic characteristics, and conduct comparative analyses that consider differences in observed patterns across various coupling types. 3. Compare findings for the United States and Canada and consider how differing survey methodology and different national policies relating to marriage, divorce, and the extent of legal recognition of same-sex couples might affect demographic characteristics.