M. Diewald, NETWORK ORIENTATION AND EXCLUSIVITY OF PA RTNERSHIP IN MARITAL AND NONMARITAL RELATIONSHIPS, INCLUDING BILOCAL NONMARITAL PARTNERSHIPS, Zeitschrift fur Soziologie, 22(4), 1993, pp. 279-297
The living arrangements of nonmarital cohabitation and of unmarried co
uples living apart are mostly found among younger, well-educated peopl
e in urban agglomerations. However, for other parts of the population
as well, these living arrangements are playing an increasing role in t
he course of individuals' lives. Following from their lower degree of
institutionalization (compared to marriage), as well as from their com
paratively shorter and more uncertain time horizon. one can suppose th
at personal network orientations and support expectations in these liv
ing arrangements are less exclusively oriented toward partnership and
kin. The same hypothesis is supported by theories arguing that nonmari
tal living arrangements are mainly due to ,,individualized'' conceptio
ns of partnership. Empirical findings reported here show, on the contr
ary, no genuine differences between marital relationships and nonmarit
al cohabitation. However, they do confirm such presumptions for nonmar
ital couples living apart insofar as the exclusiveness of partnership
regarding support expectations is clearly less developed. Differences
in everyday contacts, however, can be better interpreted in terms of s
tatus than in terms of living arrangements.