Fertility following marital dissolution - The role of cohabitation

Surprisingly, nearly one third of all nonmarital births in the United State s are to formerly married mothers. The author uses data from the National S urvey of Families and Households to investigate the level and timing of suc h births as well as their determinants. Discrete time-event history analyse s are used to evaluate the associations between various life course factors and postmarital childbearing. The present study improves on prior research by examining the role of postmarital cohabitation experience in fertility following marital dissolution. Postmarital cohabitation experience more tha n doubles the odds of having a postmarital birth. In fact, about 20% of pos tmarital births occur to cohabiting mothers.