Never partnered: a multilevel analysis of lifelong singlehood
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- dc.contributor.author Bellani, Daniela
- dc.contributor.author Esping-Andersen, Gøsta, 1947-
- dc.contributor.author Nedoluzhko, Lesia
- dc.date.accessioned 2022-11-15T10:50:00Z
- dc.date.available 2022-11-15T10:50:00Z
- dc.date.issued 2017
- dc.description.abstract Lifelong singlehood is a comparatively rare demographic phenomenon, averaging about 5% across the European Union. However, levels of lifelong singlehood vary greatly between countries in Europe. What explains this variation? Our main thesis is that it reflects the prevailing norms regarding gender roles. We hypothesize that in societies that have not adapted to women’s new roles there will be a greater propensity toward lifelong singlehood, especially among highly educated women. Objective: We analyze the link between levels of gender egalitarianism and the probability of lifelong singlehood, both overall and by educational attainment. Methods: We apply multilevel modeling to European Social Survey (ESS) and European Values Study (EVS) data collected between 2002 and 2014. We focus on differences in nonpartnering across levels of education. We run separate models for men and women. Results: In support of our hypothesis, our analysis reveals an inverse U-shaped relationship between levels of gender equity and the likelihood of lifelong singlehood for women. The association is particularly marked for more highly educated women, while it is linear for low-educated men. Conclusions: Our results suggest that high levels of singlehood are concentrated very much within those societies where traditional gender values have waned but gender egalitarianism remains poorly diffused. Where gender egalitarianism has become normatively dominant, we find higher levels of partnering for better-educated women and for low-educated men. Contribution: Our study contributes to the limited research on singlehood as well as to the growing body of literature on the demographic consequences of the ongoing revolution in women's roles.
- dc.description.sponsorship Gøsta Esping-Andersen gratefully acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme through the advanced grant FP7-IDEAS-ERC/n°269387 “Family Polarization.”
- dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
- dc.identifier.citation Bellani D, Esping-Andersen G, Nedoluzhko L. Never partnered: a multilevel analysis of lifelong singlehood. Dem Res. 2017 Jul-Dec;37(4):53-100. DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2017.37.4
- dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2017.37.4
- dc.identifier.issn 1435-9871
- dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54860
- dc.language.iso eng
- dc.publisher Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
- dc.relation.ispartof Demographic Research. 2017 Jul-Dec;37(4):53-100
- dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/269387
- dc.rights © 2017 Bellani, Esping-Andersen & Nedoluzhko. This open-access work is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 2. 0 Germany, which permits use, reproduction & distribution in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author(s) and source are given credit. See http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/2. 0/de/
- dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
- dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/de
- dc.subject.keyword Educational gradient
- dc.subject.keyword Gender equity
- dc.subject.keyword Gender roles
- dc.subject.keyword Life-long singlehood
- dc.title Never partnered: a multilevel analysis of lifelong singlehood
- dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
- dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion