Determinants of union dissolution in Italy: Do children matter?

Cohabitation as a precursor or as an alternative to marriage has spread in middle- and high-income countries, and childbearing within cohabitation is increasingly common. Nonetheless, cohabitation remains less stable than marriage. Most studies concentrate on marital disruption in the presence of children, whilst the present paper focuses on the relation between childbearing and union dissolution in Italy, being it marriage or cohabitation. Results from the 2016 Families, Social Subjects and Life Cycle Survey suggest that the presence of children within a union has a binding effect for the couple – especially at higher parities, irrespective of whether the dissolution involves a marriage or a cohabitation.