DEMOGRAPHY© Volume 18, Number 4 November 1981
DISSOLUTION OF FIRST UNIONS IN COLOMBIA, PANAMA, AND PERU
Noreen Goldman Food Research Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
Abstract-An analysis of marital histories from World Fertility Survey data in Colombia, Panama, and Peru indicates a high level of union dissolution: the probabilities of a first union ending by separation within twenty years of the onset of union equal .27, .40, 'and .18 in the three countries respectively. Dissolution probabilities are especially high among women with young ages at first union and among women residing in urban areas. For all subgroups studied, consensual unions are characterized by several times the risk of separation of legal marriages. Consensual unions are especially frequent among women in rural areas, women with little education and women who enter unions at young ages. The different prevalence of consensual unions among the different subgroups affects the associations between union stability and various correlates so that it becomes essential to investigate the factors affecting union stability for both consensual unions and legal marriages. In spite of high dissolution rates, remarriage rates in all three countries are also high, as are the percentages of time spent in a union. Hence, the potential effects of voluntary disruption of unions on fertility appear to be modest.
INTRODUCTION the Dominican Republic in 1970 (Ca Increasing attention has been focused misa, 1978). on patterns of marriage formation and The high frequency of consensual dissolution in Latin America. In the ma unions in Latin America and the absence jority of studies, a distinction is made of legal responsibilities within such between formal marriages-those with unions suggests a high level of union legal or religious sanction-and consen instability in some countries. Numerous sual or common-law unions-unions in studies have analyzed marital dissolution which couples share a household without in Latin America and indicate that sepa being formally married. In some coun ration or divorce is indeed common in tries, particularly those in Central Amer many countries, with consensual unions ica and the Caribbean, a third type of having higher disruption rates than legal union may be recognized in an analysis. marriages in most. The majority of these The "visiting" union, a more informal studies have focused on the implications union than common-law, usually refers of dissolution on fertility-i.e., the ex to couples with some "regular" sexual tent to which-marital dissolution and the relations without the sharing of a com formation of new unions has suppressed mon household (Roberts and Braith or enhanced fertility-while only several waite, 1967). The frequency of informal studies have directly measured the sta unions in Latin America may be quite bility of unions or have analyzed the high and may even exceed that offormal correlates of stability. Moreover, those marriages, as was the case for Guatema studies which do exist have not been la, Honduras, Panama, EI Salvador, and nationwide but rather have been restrict-
659
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 660 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 ed to 7 major urban areas in Latin Ameri er, the associations are confounded by ca (Centro Latinoamericano de Demo limitations in the survey questionnaire grafia (CELADE), 1963-64), to 4 rural which make it impossible to identify le areas in Latin America (CELADE, galizations of consensual unions. 1969), or have been based upon data The first part of this paper investigates from family planning clinics. These stud trends in and correlates of union stability ies do not permit generalizations on a for all unions-Le., consensual unions national level, and, given the very recent and legal marriages combined. (Visiting changes in nuptiality in Latin America unions were not identified in the survey (Smith, 1980c), may already be outdated. questionnaires for Colombia, Panama, The present study uses data from three and Peru.) For these analyses, the term World Fertility Surveys-Colombia Na "union" refers to either type of relation tional Fertility Survey, 1976; Peru Na ship. The second part investigates differ tional Fertility Survey, 1977-78; and entials in stability between consensual Panama Fertility Survey, 1976-to ana unions and legal marriages and the ex lyze "voluntary" union dissolution, i.e., tent to which the different frequency of dissolution as a result of separation or consensual unions among the various divorce. The goal of the analysis is to subgroups in the population affects the gain a better understanding of union dis results obtained for all unions in the first solution in Latin America by isolation of part of the paper. Finally, although the those factors which show a significant focus of the paper is on measurement association with the risk of separation, and correlates of union stability per se, for both legal marriages and consensual the study briefly looks at the pace at unions. Specifically, this study focuses which women reenter unions subsequent attention on: time trends in age at first to the dissolution of first unions and the union and dissolution; characteristics of degree to which the high dissolution union formation such as age at first rates in the three countries result in union, age at first birth, and the presence time lost to reproduction. of premarital births, which have been shown to affect marital disruption rates in Western societies; socioeconomic cor BACKGROUND relates of dissolution such as level of The absence of nationwide studies of education and area of residence; differ marriage dissolution in Latin America ences in union formation and dissolution must in large part be due to the paucity between consensual and legal unions; of complete or accurate nuptiality data. and finally, the extent to which the dif In general, consensual unions are not ferent characteristics of women in the registered in continuous vital registration different union types can account for the systems (Arretx, 1969). In addition, mar higher dissolution probabilities associat riage dissolution information is not rou ed with consensual unions, or the extent tinely collected in censuses, and consen to which the higher dissolution probabili sual unions are frequently not recorded. ties associated with certain subgroups For example, a recent analysis showed can be accounted for a higher frequency that the prevalence of consensual unions of consensual unions within these sub in the 1964 and 1973 Censuses of Colom groups. The latter associations are of bia was underestimated by approximate course difficult ones to analyze for both ly one-third (Fl6rez and Goldman, 1980). substantive and methodological reasons. In an analysis of marital status and fam First, the type of union which couples ily composition in Latin America, Mor "choose" is influenced by the couples' tara notes the difficulties of recording social, economic, and cultural setting. and classifying informal unions, e.g., Second, as discussed in more detaillat- only those consensual unions which
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Dissolution of First Unions in Colombia, Panama, and Peru 661 "have a certain character or perma about 11 percent for all unions, 8 percent nence" usually get recorded; women are for legal marriages, and 16 percent for more apt to report the existence of such consensual unions. However, in Rosero's unions than are men; and, in certain life tables, women who formed higher cases respondents may report that they order unions reentered the life table at are legally married when they are actual their duration since first union. Hence, ly in a "free union" (Mortara, 1964, pp. these probabilitiesdo not provide informa 73-74). tive estimates of the stability of first Two series of surveys undertaken by unions. CELADE in the 1960s provide relatively DATA complete data for the areas of study. Surveys carried out in seven Latin The analysis is based on data from the American capital cities (Caracas, Vene World Fertility Surveys in Colombia zuela; Mexico City, Mexico; Bogota, (1976), Panama (1976), and Peru (1977 Colombia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; San 78). The surveys are based on national Jose, Costa Rica; Buenos Aires, Argenti samples of 3,302, 3,203, and 5,640 ever na; and Panama City, Panama) during married women in Colombia, Panama 1963-64 collected data on previous as and Peru respectively, with an age range well as current marital status and sur of 15-49 in Colombia and Peru and 20-49 veys carried out in four rural areas (Co in Panama. (In addition, the surveys lombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru) include 2,076 single women in Colombia in 1969collected a complete marital his and 798 single women in Panama.) tory. For each country participating in the The majority of studies concerned World Fertility Survey (WFS), the sur with marital dissolution in Latin America vey includes a detailed marriage history. and the Caribbean have measured the Based on a standardized questionnaire, stability of union types only indirectly in interviewers in Latin America collected terms of time lost to reproduction (e.g., information on date of onset and type of Blake, 1955; Braithwaite and Roberts, union, date of dissolution of union and 1961; Chen et al., 1974; Cumper, 1966; reason for dissolution (if the union dis Downing and Yaukey, 1979; Ebanks et solved), for each union in a woman's al., 1974; Onaka et al., 1977; Onaka and history. Responses were based upon the Yaukey, 1973; and Ram and Ebanks, following series of questions: 1973). However, two studies, based on 1. In what month and year did you begin data from the CELADE surveys, have to live with your (first, second, etc.) used a life-table approach to measure the husband? stability of unions. Onaka et al. (1977), 2. Were you married or in union? (In using data from six capital cities com Spanish this reads, "Estuvo casada 0 bined, determined that in approximately unida?") twenty years duration since first union, 3. Did this union end by death, divorce, one-quarter of consensual unions had or separation? dissolved; the expected duration of legal 4. In what month and year did this union marriages was approximately 50 percent end? greater than that of consensual unions, in 5 of the 6 cities. Rosero (1978), using In addition, a series of probe questions data from the rural surveys, also noted were included to ensure that a full count that consensual unions had a much high of legal marriages and common-law er dissolution rate than legal marriages. unions was obtained. For the four rural areas combined, the The analyses presented here focus on probability of dissolution (including wid voluntary dissolution of first unions, for owhood) in twenty years of marriage was both legal marriages and consensual
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 662 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 unions. Among all first unions in the "legal"-are more problematic. Since samples, a total of 20 percent, 33 per the more stable common-law unions are cent, and 14 percent resulted in separa those most likely to be legalized, classifi tion or divorce in Colombia, Panama and cation of these legalized unions as "le Peru respectively. Since divorce is not gal" would lead to an overestimate of the always recognized by Catholic nations, it dissolution rate of consensual unions and is not usually possible to distinguish be would exaggerate the differences in sta tween separation and divorce in the Lat bility between consensual unions and in American surveys. Note, however, legal marriages. that separations in the context of WFS Although it is not possible to deter surveys refer to permanent separations: mine how women classified legaliza interviewers asked women whether or tions, analyses presented in the latter not they had stopped livingtogether with part of the paper indicate only minimal their spouses "for good." bias. Hence it appears that women pro It is important to bear in mind that vided date of onset of the consensual questionnaires used in WFS surveys in unions and classified unions as "consen Latin America (although not in the Ca sual" for a high proportion of legaliza ribbean) recorded number of partners, tions, or that legalizations occurred with not number of union-types. For exam in a very short time (several years) ofthe ple, the termination of a consensual onset of cohabitation so that the bias union and the onset of a legal marriage could not be detected. with the same partner was recorded as Although it seems almost certain that two relationships in the Caribbean WFS analyses by union type derived from surveys but only one union in the Latin WFS surveys overestimate the differ American WFS surveys. From other in ences in stability between consensual formation, it is clear that legalizations of unions and legal marriages to some de common-law unions are common in gree, the nature of the interactions some countries, especially upon birth of among stability, union type, and various the first child (e.g., Camisa, 1978; Ro correlates of stability should not be sig sero, 1978). nificantly affected by the surveys' failure The failure to record legalizations does to record legalizations. not result in distortions of stability mea sures for all unions combined, although METHODS it may bias analyses by union type. Since The simplest measure of dissolution is it is not possible to determine how legal the percent of unions which terminate in ized unions are classified in the survey separation or divorce. However, such a ("legal" or "consensual"), nor whether measure does not control for exposure to the date of onset of union supplied by the the risk of dissolution. For example, respondent is the date of onset of the higher dissolution proportions associat consensual union or the date of legaliza ed with younger ages at marriage may tion, one can only surmise as to the simply be the result of a longer exposure nature of the bias. If the respondent time for those married young. provided date of onset of the consensual Life-table analysis, on the other hand, union and classified the union as "con takes direct account of exposure time by sensual," analyses would not be biased; computation of duration-specific proba one would simply classify dissolution bilities. Specifically, for each duration x rates by the nature of the union at the (i.e., the interval between x and x + 1 onset. The other two possible response years since first union), the denominator pattems-date of onset of consensual consists of women who have been con union and classification of "legal" or tinuously in union for at least x years and date of legalization and classification of the numerator consists of separations
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Dissolution of First Unions in Colombia, Panama, and Peru 663 which occurred to women in union be dissolution rates among subgroups of tween x and x + 1 years. (This calcula interest. tion is restricted to women whose first In the following sections, most calcu union occurred at least x + 1 years prior lations of dissolution rates are based to survey so as to avoid incomplete upon either qx or (1 - Ix) values. Note exposure in the interval and resulting that although we interpret (1 - Ix) as the biased estimates of life-table parameters; proportion of unions which terminate in see Smith (1980a).) Unions which dis separation by duration x, (1 - Ix) is more solved because of widowhood contribute accurately described as the proportion exposure time (until the death of spouse) which would terminate by duration x, if to the denominator but do not contribute couples in the specified subgroup experi a dissolution to the numerator. enced the duration-specific probabilities Since unions classified as "separated" of separation of the past 25 or 30 years. or "divorced" are included as dissolu Detailed methodology for the life-table tions, it is imperative that the date of calculations and applications to marital separation be used in the calculation of dissolution are described in Smith life-table values. In the WFS surveys, (1980a, 1980b). these values were provided in response to the question, "In what month and TIME TRENDS IN AGE AT UNION AND year did you and your husband stop UNION DISSOLUTION living together?" Throughout this analy Since a number of studies of marital sis, the probability of "dissolution" is dissolution indicate a significantrelation equivalent to the probability of separa ship between age at marriage and the tion. level of marital instability (e.g., Carter The ratio of events (separations) to and Glick, 1976, and Bumpass and exposure, qx, is the probability that a Sweet, 1972, for studies in the United union which has survived at least x years States), it is important to analyze trends will dissolve in the ensuing year. The life in age at union alongside trends in union table survival probability dissolution. A recent study of nuptiality patterns in 15 developing countries in x-I Asia and Latin America indicates a rising Ix = IT (1- q) age at marriage for the youngest cohorts j=O in almost all countries (Durch, 1980). Analysis of nuptiality (or fertility) is the probability that a union "sur trends from survey data is complicated vives" for at least x years from the date by the fact that the younger women have ofonset of union. Since the value of Ix is not yet had the opportunity to complete based on all duration probabilities below their experience. For almost all coun x years, it is heavily weighted toward the tries the mean age at marriage for the experience of the longer duration co youngest cohort (e.g., 15-19) will be horts. For example, women married 20 considerably lower than that of the older years ago could potentially contribute cohorts because all marriages which exposure to 20 separate q values (qn x = have already occurred for 15-19 year 0, ... , 19), whereas women married one olds must have occurred prior to age 20. year ago could contribute exposure to In order to estimate mean ages at first only qo. However, calculation of sepa union for the life-time experience of all rate life tables for different cohorts, cate cohorts, we have used a model marriage gories of age at union, etc., avoids the function (Coale, 1971) fitted to observed combination of disparate dissolution first union frequencies (up to the current probabilities into one survival probabili age of each cohort). Note again that, ty and allows for direct comparison of unless specified to the contrary, the term
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 664 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 Table I.-Mean Age at First Union Derived from Fitted Model Schedules" by Age at Survey: Colombia, Panama and Peru
Age at Survey Colombia Panama Peru
20-24 21.8 22.9 22.7
25-29 21.4 21.0 21.2
30-34 20.7 20.1 20.9
35-39 20.4 20.0 20.4
40-44 21. 2 19.9 20.6
45-49 21.7 19.8 20.9
a-- Model first marriage schedules (Coale. 1971) have been fitted to the distributions of proportions ever in union by successive ages (up to age at survey) by a maximum likelihood procedure (Rodriguez and Trussell. 1980).
"union" includes both consensual lombia surveys took place in 1976 and unions and legal marriages. Table 1 the Peru survey in 1977-78, the higher shows the estimated mean ages at first separation rates for 1975 are probably union for five-year cohorts. In general, due to the inclusion of temporary separa there appears to have been little change tions. This seems to have occurred in in age at first union for most of the past spite of instructions to interviewers to 25 or 30 years, with average ages of include only women who stopped living approximately 21, 20, and 21, in Colom bia, Panama and Peru, respectively. 50 However, values for the cohort aged 20 --- PANAMA -- COLOMBIA 24 suggest a recent increase in all three 40 countries. ------PERU Trends in dissolution have been ana w (1) ~ lyzed in two ways: annual dissolution a: 30 rates and (2) life-table probabilities of dissolution for successive cohorts. Fig s ure 1 shows annual separation rates, i.e., ~ a: 20 number of separations per 1,000women ~ w in union, for the calendar years 1962 to ell '---', --- ... ' ... -----... " 1975. Since the WFS surveys include 10 ...... ' only women below age 50, the calcula tions for the past fifteen years must be
restricted to women under age 35 in o L..-I---1.---"--1----'---'--.L-L.-J--l.---"--1-...J order for successive rates to be compara 1962 1965 1970 1975 ble to one another. The data show no YEARS significant changes in dissolution rates Figure I.-Annual Separation Rates per 1,000 through the 196Os, but a slightincrease in Women in Union, 1962-1975 (Ages 15-35 in Co recent years. Since the Panama and Co- lombia and in Peru, 20-35 in Panama)
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Table 2.-Proportion of Unions Dissolved by Separation for Selected Intervals Since First Union for All Women and by Age at Survey
Age at Survey* Union Duration All (years) Women 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49
Colombia
1 .037 .037 .023 .039 .026 .017 5 .113 .103 .079 .121 .078 .089 10 .182 .187 .152 .195 .148 .148 15 .233 .213 .238 .188 .196 20 .266 .288 .211 .232
Panama
1 .055 .056 .055 .044 .054 .064 5 .218 .242 .209 .200 .205 .196 10 .315 .373 .316 .277 .306 .259 15 .372 .377 .319 .349 .335 20 .401 .349 .366 .378
Peru
1 .029 .034 .021 .028 .024 .023 5 .OQ8 .~11 .091 .091 .067 .088 10 .141 .165 .138 .127 .112 .130 15 .166 .152 .154 .142 .153 20 .183 .169 .160 .172
* Excluding women entering unions after age 25.
- Indicates that fewer than 20 unions are remaining in life table calculation by specified duration.
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 666 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 sual unions in Panama. Note that the calculations in order to maintain a rea numbers in Table 2 which imply that sonable sample size. roughly one-fifth to one-half of all first The findings with regard to age at first unions eventually result in separation in union and age at first birth are consistent the three countries are considerably with those obtained in American studies: higher than the CELADE-based estimates the earlier the age, the higher the proba discussed earlier. bility of separation in all three countries. With the exception of women in union FACTORS RELATED TO THE PROBABILITY OF SEPARATION later than age 25, the relationships are monotonic and the differentials are quite Age at first union, age at first birth, and large: e.g., women who enter a union presence ofpremarital births before age 15 face almost twice the risk Several studies of marital dissolution in of separation by the tenth year as do the United States have pointed to signifi women who enter union after age 20, in cant relationships between the risk of Colombia and in Peru. separation or divorce and age at mar It is interesting to note that one earlier riage (Bumpass and Sweet, 1972; Carter study investigated the stability of unions and Glick, 1976; McCarthy, 1978), age at by age at union and type of union. Onaka first birth (McCarthy and Menken, et al. (1977), using CELADE data from 1979), and the presence of premarital six capital cities combined, determined births or pregnancies (Christensen and that dissolution rates did not substantial Meissner, 1953; Bumpass and Sweet, ly vary with age at union for both legal 1972; McCarthy and Menken, 1979). In marriages and consensual unions. As general, these studies indicate that the shown later, this finding is not contradic younger the age at marriage or the age at tory to our finding that a younger age at first birth, the higher the probability that union increases the risk of separation of a marriage terminates in separation or all unions. Since consensual unions are divorce. Since, on the average, a youn formed at approximately one to two ger age at marriage results in a younger years of age earlier than legal marriages, age at first birth, it becomes very difficult the relationship between age at union to disentangle the effects of age at first and union stability for all unions com marriage from those of age at first birth bined is affected by the proportion of (without a very large sample size). Stud consensual unions and legal marriages ies have also indicated that the occur which occur at different ages. rence of a premarital birth or pregnancy As one would expect in societies with significantly increases the risk of marital a high frequency of informal unions, dissolution in the United States, for fixed premarital pregnancies are relatively age at marriage or age at first birth. common in Latin America. With a "pre Previous analyses of marital dissolution marital" pregnancy defined as a birth in Latin America have not investigated prior to first union or within the first six the importance of these factors in deter months of the first union, a total of 17 mining the risk of separation or divorce. percent, 16 percent and 24 percent of Selected proportions of unions dis first uriions in Colombia, Panama, and solved by categories of age at first union Peru were characterized by premarital (consensual union or legal marriage), age pregnancies. These frequencies were rel at first birth, and the presence of a atively constant across cohorts but, as premarital pregnancy are shown in Table expected, increased with increasing age 3 for the three countries. Since we have at union since those married at a later seen that dissolution,rates are fairly con age had more exposure to a premarital stant across cohorts, we have combined pregnancy. exposure for all cohorts in the remaining Based on studies elsewhere, one might
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Dissolution of First Unions in Colombia, Panama, and Peru 667 Table 3.-Proportion of Unions Dissolved by Separation for Selected Intervals Since First Union by Age at First Union, Age at First Birth and Presence of Premarital Pregnancy
Union Age at First Union Duration Colombia Panama Peru (years) <15 15-19 20-24 25+ <15 15-19 20-2/, 25+ <15 15-19 20-24 25+ 1 .052 .041 .027 .033 .069 .062 .039 .050 .046 .030 .023 .025 5 .170 .119 .089 .087 .257 .243 .170 .164 .141 .103 .081 .068 10 .285 .196 .138 .106 .368 .349 .240 .252 .221 .144 .117 .107 15 .333 .249 .168 .203 .433 .401 .298 (.307) .255 .168 .141 .120 20 .358 .287 .190 (.263) .452 .429 .342 .279 .185 .155 (.139)
Union Age at First Birth Duration Colombia Panama Peru (years) <15 15-19 20-24 25+ <15 15-19 20-24 25+ <15 15-19 20-24 25+ 1 .037 .041 .034 .024 .048 .067 .043 .029 .075 .030 .025 .024 5 .140 .134 .089 .072 .219 .256 .185 .141 .157 .109 .085 .073 10 .274 .209 .148 .118 .325 .364 .279 .198 .218 .156 .122 .119 15 (.310) .260 .193 .194 (.428) .417 .326 .260 .237 .184 .144 .140 20 (.355) .293 .221 (.240) (.428) .448 .351 .315 .264 .199 .165 .146
Union Presence of Premarital Pregnancy* Duration Colombia Panama Peru (years) Yes No Yes No Yes No 1 .044 .036 .048 .056 .038 .026 5 .148 .108 .229 .216 .103 .096 10 .201 .179 .350 .309 .145 .140 15 .263 .228 .398 .368 .163 .167 20 .309 .263 .423 .397 .179 .184
*Births occurring prior to date of first union or within six months of first union. Values in parentheses indicate that fewer than 50 unions are remaining in life table calculation by specified duration. - Indicates that fewer than 20 unions are remaining.
have expected the existence ofa premar and Thorsen, 1972; Michielutte et al., itally conceived child to have placed 1973; and Camisa, 1978) and as dis added strain on the union. This appears cussed in the next section, common-law not to be the case for the three countries unions occur more frequently within ru under study and may relate to the social ral areas and among couples with lower acceptance of non-legal forms of union education. Hence, one might expect and hence "illegitimate" children. The union stability to vary with region and lower panel ofTable 3 shows that proba level of education. bilities of separation are only very slight The data in Table 4 indicate that, for ly higher in the presence of a premarital all unions combined, there is virtuallyno conception. Separate analyses for each relationshipbetween the level of educa category of age at union yield similar tion and the probability of separation in results. Panama .. and in Peru and only a small difference in Colombia with the less edu Level of education and area of cated women having higher dissolution rates. Differentials by area of residence residence are larger, with women residing in urban As noted in several earlier studies areas having a higher risk of separation (Cumper, 1966; Stycos, 1968; Yaukey than women in rural areas in Panamaand
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 668 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4. November 1981 Table 4.-Proportion of Unions Dissolved by Separation for Selected Intervals Since First Union, by Area of Residence and Level of Education
Union Area of residence duration Colombia Panama Peru (years) Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural
1 .030 .050 .047 .065 .055 .033 5 .104 .128 .222 .214 .218 .096 10 .175 .195 .339 .287 .315 .126 15 .233 .233 .411 .328 .372 .146 20 .275 .249 .447 .349 .401 .156
Level of education Colombia Panama Peru Less than At least Less than At least Less than At least Union primary primary primary primary primary primary duration educa- educa- educa- educa- educa- educa- (years) tion* tion tion* tion tion* tion 1 .044 .025 .063 .050 .034 .021 5 .129 .081 .223 .216 .106 .085 10 .204 .139 .307 .321 .148 .131 15 .255 .188 .347 .392 .170 .164 20 .289 .220 .380 .418 .187 .181
* Includes women with less than five years of schooling in Colombia and in Peru and less than six years of schooling in Panama.
especially in Peru. This latter relation tions include the extent to which these ship is contrary to expectation since ru same relationships hold for consensual ral areas have a greater frequency of unions only or for legal marriages only, common-law unions. and more generally, the degree to which In summary, life-table calculations so differential frequencies of consensual far have indicted that union stability var unions and legal marriages among the ies substantially with age at first union, various groups in the three countries age at first birth, and area of residence, exaggerate or lessen the strengths of the but only slightly with cohort or time relationships between union stability and period, level of education, and the exis the above "explanatory" variables. In tence of a premarital pregnancy. Up to order to tackle these more complex asso this point, the analysis has not distin ciations, we first examine the prevalence guished between consensual unions and of consensual unions in Colombia, Pana legal marriages. The next logical ques- ma, and Peru.
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Dissolution of First Unions in Colombio, Panama, and Peru 669 FREQUENCY OF CONSENSUAL UNIONS erts, 1961; Cumper, 1966; Yaukey and Measurement of the frequency of con- Thorsen, 1972; Michielutte et al., 1973; . and Onaka and Yaukey, 1973). sensual unions is hindered by the diffi- The data in Table 5 confirm these culties of defining such unions. In refer- findings. The younger the age at first ence to consensual unions, Michielutte et at. (1973) note that: union, the higher the percentage of con- sensual unions in all three countries. The variation in the prevalence of consensual Such terms as "common law," "visit unions with age at union is large, with ing," "concubinage," and "friending" all the frequency among those in union be have been employed with some overlap to fore age 15as large as twice the frequen designate the same type of relationship. Furthermore, such factors as the legitima cy among those in union after age 25 in cy of the offspring, the nature and location Colombia and in Peru. Calculations (not of the sexual encounter, and the attitudes shown) indicate that the mean age at first of the participants have been offered as union is approximately one to one and a characteristics of this form of relationship. half years lower for consensual unions About all that can be said with certainty is than for legal marriages in the three that this form of sexual relationship is less countries. than a legally sanctioned union but more On the other hand, the data reveal few socially acceptable than a casual or promis differences in the frequency of consensu cuous one (p, 120). al unions among different cohorts. The calculations by cohort are restricted to Undoubtedly, even with as detailed women over age 25 and exclude first and carefully designed a set of surveys as unions beyond age 25 so as to avoid the World Fertility Survey, some women distortion caused by the varying frequen will fail to report a consensual union, cy of consensual unions among different some will misclassify the union as legal, ages at first union. Note that if legaliza and more often women will misreport the tions of consensual unions were frequent date of onset of the cohabitation. Never and if such unions were reported as theless, the characteristics of women in "legal" by the respondents, one would consensual unions as determined from expect the reported frequency of consen these WFS data agree with previous sual unions to decline with increasing findings based on the CELADE surveys, age of cohort since the older cohorts census data in the Caribbean, and family have had more time in which to legalize planning clinics in Costa Rica. A number their union and legitimize their children. of studies in Latin America and the Ca However, only for Peru is the percent of ribbean have indicated that the age at consensual unions for the youngest co which women initiate consensual unions hort (25-29) greater than that for the is younger than that at which they enter remaining cohorts, and the relatively legal marriages (Cumper, 1966; Yaukey constant values across age groups sug and Thorsen, 1972; Michielutte et al., gests that the failure to record legaliza 1973; Camisa, 1978; and Rosero, 1978), tions in the WFS surveys has not sub and that women in consensual unions stantially distorted the data sets. It is tend to be of lower social class standing possible, of course, that a reduction in than women in legal or religious mar the frequency of consensual unions over riages. Specifically, women in consensual time is being concealed by progressively unions tend to have a lower level of larger numbers of legalizations for peri education and a lower income, and are ods further from the survey date. more apt to reside in rural areas, to be As expected, consensual unions occur nonwhite, and to have spouses who are more frequently in the rural areas, al unskilled laborers (Braithwaite and Rob- though the urban-rural differences are
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 670 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 Table5.-Percent of Women Ever-in-Union" with Consensual First Unions, by Age at Survey, Age at First Union, Area of Residence, Level of Education, and Presence of Premarital Pregnancy
Age at Survey** Colombia Panama Peru 25-29 29.8 (605) 53.3 (658) 30.5 (975) 30-34 23.8 (470) 53.8 (615) 24.8 (812) 35-39 31. 6 (424) 48.3 (446) 20.7 (781) 40-44 23.1 (350) 49.4 (340) 21.9 (684) 45-49 23.3 (292) 49.4 (312) 20.8 (597)
Age at First Union <15 49.1 (348) 63.9 (368) 41.8 (552) 15-19 33.3 (1672) 57.1 (1589) 29.8 (2855) 20-24 19.7 (925) 42.0 (984) 22.1 (1648) 25+ 20.4 (357) 42.0 (262) 21.0 (585)
Area of Residence Urban 27.1 (2123) 43.3 (1860) 25.5 (3631) Rural 34.4 (1176) 64.1 (1343) 31.9 (2009)
Level of Education Less than complete primary 36.9 (2099) 70.2 (1059) 33.3 (3342) At least complete primary 17.3 (1203) 43.1 (2144) 19.8 (2298)
Premarital Pregnancy*** Yes 33.3 (568) 55.4 (525) 28.3 (1323) No 29.0 (2734) 51.3 (2678) 27.7 (4316)
Total 29.7 (3302) 52.0 (3203) 27.8 (5640)
*Number of women ever-in-union in appropriate category indicated in parentheses. **Exc1uding women entering unions after age 25. ***Births occurring prior to date of first union or within six months of first union.
large in Panama only. However, consen areas is considerably greater than in ur sual unions occur much more frequently banareas in all three countries. among women with less than a primary The frequency of consensual unions is education, as compared with women only slightly higher among women with a who have completed primary school, in premarital pregnancy. Although one all three countries. Comparisons within might surmise that pregnant women categories of age at first union (not would opt for consensual unions because shown) yield similar findings, but indi of their ease offormation, it appears that cate that for unions over age 25, the a desire to legitimize births is also oper frequency of consensual unions in rural ating.
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Dissolution of First Unions in Colombia, Panama, and Peru 671 The overall frequencies of consensual responsibility within these cohabitations unions are approximately equal in Co- suggests that their stability is lower than lombia and in Peru (30 percent and 28 that of legal marriagas. As indicated by percent respectively), but are almost WFS data, this is definitely the case. The twice as large in Panama (52 percent). data in Table 6 indicate that consensual We noted earlier that the percent of unions are much more likely to end in unions which eventually end in separa- separation than are legal marriages. The tion is approximately twice as high in values indicate that by ten years' dura Panama as in Colombia and Peru (Table tion since first union, the relative risks of 2). Below we investigate the extent to dissolution for consensual unions and which the higher frequency of informal legal marriages are about 7:1 in Colom unions in Panama "explains" the higher bia and in Peru and about 3:1in Panama. dissolution rates. By twenty years since first union more than one-half of first consensual unions DISSOLUTION OF CONSENSUAL UNIONS have ended in separation in all three YS. LEGAL MARRIAGES countries. On the other hand, the per- The informal nature of consensual centages of legal marriages which termi unions and the absence of any legal nate in separation within twenty years
Table 6.-Proportions of Unions Dissolved by Separation for Selected Intervals Since First Union, by Type of Union
Colombia Union Duration Total Legal Consensual (years) 1 .037 .006 .112 5 .113 .032 .310 10 .182 .065 .476 15 .233 .100 .570 20 .266 .126 .627
Union Duration Panama (years) Total Legal Consensual 1 .055 .018 .089 5 .218 .096 .330 10 .315 .164 .454 15 .372 .201 .531 20 .401 .226 .565
Union Duration Peru (years) Total Legal Consensual 1 .029 .005 .093 5 .098 .027 .296 10 .141 .048 .416 15 .166 .064 .478 20 .183 .073 .528
Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 672 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 vary from only 7 percent in Peru to 23 of qx values, most notable in Colombia, percent in Panama. As suggested earlier, is in part due to a heaping of reported these comparisons are probably exagger dissolution dates of consensual unions at ated by the recording of some legaliza rounded durations of union such as 5 or tions of consensual unions as "legal." 10. The three country-specific patterns Note that the higher overall separation ofqx values shown for each union type in rate in Panama, as compared with Co Figure 2 are not only similar to one lombia or Peru, is due to two factors-a another, but are similar to those calculat higher separation rate for legal marriages ed by Rosero (1978) from the CELADE (but not for consensual unions), and a rural surveys. higher proportion of unions which are To what extent do the higher separa consensual. tion risks of consensual unions "ex Figure 2 shows the duration-specific plain" the overall higher risks for women probabilities of separation (qJ of the two with younger ages at first union (and first union types, by single year durations birth)? Or, vice versa, to what extent are since first union. Consensual unions and the higher risks associated with consen legal marriages are characterized by not sual unions due to the fact that the only different magnitudes of risk, but by women who are most likely to enter such different patterns of dissolution. Legal unions do so at young ages and are more marriages show low and fairly equal dis likely to come from lower social class solution probabilities at each duration, backgrounds? These questions are ex whereas consensual unions show a gen plored below. erally declining risk with increasing du ration. Consensual unions which manage FACTORS RELATED TO THE to "survive" several years are less likely PROBABILITY OF SEPARATION BY TYPE OF UNION to end in separation in later years; the risks of separation are particularly high Table 7 shows probabilities of separa during the first year. The "peakedness" tion within ten years of the onset of first
O.I 2 ~~~rrrrrrrrTTTTTTTCrrrrITTTTTTTTTTlT1TITTTTTTTlTTTTTTl
>- 0.10 ------Consensual Union I- -- Lega I Marriage ....J , co I \ Ol.ll.lil.Ll-LLiJULLr.u..Ll..U..l-'..LLJULLLLLL.LU..ll..Ll.liilJlil.LL.L.llllUYl..l.J o 5 10 15 0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15 20 UNION DURATION (years) Figure 2.-Duration-Specific Probabilities of Separation ('I.,) by Years Since First Union and Type of Union Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Dissolution of First Unions in Colombia, Panama, and Peru 673 Table 7.-Proportion of Consensual Unions and Legal Marriages Dissolved by Separation within Ten Years of Onset of First Union, by Age at Survey, Age at First Union, Area of Residence and Level of Education Proportion Separated hi; Ten Years (1-)/,10) Colombia Panama Peru Legal Consensual Consensual Legal Consensual Age at Survey * 25-29 .082 .419 .259 .470 .056 .405 10-34 .055 .471 .149 .458 .046 .429 35-39 .049 .509 .142 .432 .037 .492 40-44 .055 (.463) .109 .509 .040 .385 45-49 .041 (.519) .103 .426 .048 .468 Age at First Union <15 .125 .464 .201 .460 .058 .482 15-19 .061 .474 .178 .479 .047 .414 20-24 .059 (.471) .131 .395 .050 .381 25+ .044 (.374) .154 (.412) .034 (.375) Area of Residence Urban .076 .457 .183 .546 .164 .454 Rural .044 .503 .127 .377 .029 .367 Level of Education Less than complete primary .059 .471 .106 .397 .034 .410 At least complete primary .074 (.499) .183 .508 .069 .443 Total .065 .476 .164 .454 .048 .416 *Exc1uding women entering unions after age 25. Values in parentheses indicate that fewer than 50 unions are remaining in life table calculation by specified duration. union, for consensual unions and for areas, and for women of low and high legal marriages, by various characteris levels of education. Hence, the instabil tics of women in the unions. At once we ity of consensual unions appears to be an note that the higher dissolution probabil inherent character of these non-legal ities of consensual unions occur for each forms of relationship rather than of spec cohort, for each category of age at first ifiable characteristics of women in the union, for women in rural and in urban unions. Undoubtedly, consensual unions Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 674 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 which prove to be durable are those for Peru. The figure shows a clear associ which are most likely to be legalized. ation between age at first union and Earlier we noted that the younger the union stability for all unions, but only age at first union, the more likely that the small differential risks of separation by union dissolved (Table 3). Yet, the data age at first union within a type of union. in Table 7 indicate that there is little These results suggest that the overall relationship beween age at first union correlation between age at union and the and the probability of separation within risk of separation can be largely "ex either type of union. In fact, the only plained" by the higher frequency of con monotonic relationship between age at sensual unions at the younger ages at first union and the risk of separation is first union. for legal marriages in Colombia. For Note that these results do not imply illustration, the probabilities of separa that if legal marriages were the only tion by age at first union for consensual recognized form of union in Latin Ameri unions and for legal marriages are shown ca, there would be no correlation be graphically for Colombia in Figure 3; the tween age at marriage and the risk of relationships are similar for Panama and separation. It may well be the case that 0.7 z o f CD 0.4 Z o i= wa: (/) u, o 0.2 >- f- -.J CD 0.1 Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Dissolution of First Unions in Colombia, Panama, and Peru 675 women who form common-law unions type of first union, and the risk of separa would be more likely to marry at young tion are complex ones. Moreover, the ages and to experience higher dissolution interactions cannot be interpreted as rates, regardless of the nature of the causal ones. The results presented here union. show that the higher dissolution risks The associations among union stabil associated with consensual unions can ity, type of union and area of residence not be accounted for by distributions of or level of education are less straightfor age at union, areas of residence or level ward. We noted earlier (Table 4) that the of education. For each of these sub risks of separation were considerably groups, consensual unions are consider higher in urban than in rural areas for ably more unstable than legal marriages, Panama and Peru and very slightly high a finding which is obviously related to er in urban areas in Colombia. The data the informal nature and absence of legal in Table 7 indicate that similar compari constraints within such unions, at least sons occur within either type of union: for the three countries being analyzed for both consensual unions and legal here. On the other hand, the relationship marriages in Panama and in Peru and for between age at first union and the risk of only legal marriages in Colombia, proba dissolution can be largely accounted for bilities of separation are considerably (but not necessarily explained) by the higher for women residing in urban ar greater frequency of consensual unions eas. However, the higher frequency of at the young ages. The results also sug consensual unions in rural as compared gest that whereas the more educated with urban areas (Table 5) tends to mini women and women residing in urban mize the urban-rural differential for all areas generally show higher dissolution unions combined. rates within a fixed union type, the com The higher frequency of consensual parisons based on data for all unions can unions for the less educated women be reversed because of the higher fre masks the relationship between stability quency of consensual unions among ru of unions and level of education for each ral women and among women with less union type. Specifically, whereas there than a primary school education. is very little difference in union stability by level of education for all unions (Ta IMPLICATIONS OF UNION DISSOLUTION ble 4), for either consensual unions or FOR FERTILITY legal marriages the more educated wom The analyses presented here suggest en experience higher separation rates in very high dissolution rates for first all three countries, especially in Panama. unions, particularly for consensual The higher frequency of consensual unions. For example, by ten years since unions among women with less than a first union, more than 40 percent of primary education (and the higher dis consensual unions have terminated by ruption rates associated with these separation in Colombia, Panama, and unions as compared with legal mar Peru. On the other hand, the data sug riages) coupled with higher separation gest that many women, especially those rates for the more educated women for whose first union was consensual, expe either union type produces no substan rience mote than one union. For exam tial difference in overall separation rates ple, among the cohorts aged 45-49 in the by level of education in Panama and in three countries, the average number of Peru, and a somewhat higher rate for the unions was between 1.1 and 1.2 for less educated women in Colombia (Table women whose first union was legal and 4). between 1.6 and 1.8 for women whose The interactions among age at union, first union was consensual. Table 8 current residence, level of education, shows the percentages of women who Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 676 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 Table S.-Percentage of Women Entering Second Union by Years Since Dissolution of First Union, by Tyee of First Union Years Colombia Panama Peru Since First Legal Consensual Legal Consensual Legal Consensual Dissolution 1 9 25 19 27 11 16 2 18 43 33 49 22 34 3 26 55 44 60 30 47 4 35 61 53 69 37 58 5 38 67 60 74 44 63 10 (53) (81) (71) 87 62 83 Values in parentheses indicate that fewer than 50 unions are remaining in life table calculation by specified duration. remarry by duration since the dissolution erably less than that for the youngest of first union and the type of first union. cohort (70 percent in Colombia, 77 per By only three years since the dissolution cent in Panama, and 83 percent in Peru). of the first consensual union, half of On the other hand, the stability of legal women have entered a second union in marriages results in a high percentage of all three countries; by ten years, the time spent in the first union, even for the percentages are over 80 percent. The oldest cohorts. percentages entering a second union af Of more importance for fertility analy ter the dissolution of a legal marriage are sis, the data show fairly high proportions somewhat lower: e.g., by three years of time spent in any union for all women. since dissolution, the percentages range In particular, the percentage of time from 26 percent in Colombia to 44 per spent in any union is greater than 80 cent in Panama. percent for almost all cohorts with a Analyses of the impact of marital dis consensual first union. The percentages solution on completed fertility are most are greater than 90percent for all cohorts concerned with the total number of with a legal marriage. The generally con potentially reproductive years spent in stant percentages across cohorts is strik side and outside of unions. Table 9 ing and suggests a continuous "flow" in shows the percentages of time since the and out of unions for the three countries. onset offirst union which has been spent The impact on fertility of the 10 to 20 in the first union and in any union, by percent of time spent out of unions cohort and type of first union. As one shown in Table 9, in conjunction with would expect, the higher dissolution known desires on the part of many cou rates of consensual unions imply that the ples to have a child in each union, has percentage of time spent in the first been the major focus of previous studies consensual union declines rapidly with of union dissolution in Latin America age. This is true for all three countries, and the Caribbean. with the percentage of time in the first consensual union for the oldest cohort CONCLUSIONS (43 percent in Colombia, 48 percent in This analysis has pointed to a high rate Panama, and 50 percent in Peru) consid- of union disruption in Colombia, Pana- Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Dissolution of First Unions in Colombia, Panama, and Peru 677 Table 9.-Percentage of Time Since First Union Spent in Any Union and in First Union, by Age at Survey and Type of First Union Colombia Legal Consensual Age at Any First Any First Survey Union Union Union Union 20-24 97 95 86 70 25-29 96 94 87 69 30-34 97 95 89 59 35-39 94 90 87 53 40-44 92 88 83 55 45-49 91 84 74 43 Panama Legal Consensual Age at Any First Any First Survey Union Union Union Union 20-24 95 91 88 77 25-29 93 87 86 65 30-34 93 88 86 60 35-39 93 86 85 58 40-44 94 85 84 53 45-49 91 84 79 48 Peru Legal Consensual Age at Any First Any First Survey Union Union Union Union 20-24 97 96 90 83 25-29 98 97 85 69 30-34 97 95 85 62 35-39 96 92 81 50 40-44 96 93 84 58 45-49 93 89 82 50 ma, and Peru: the probabilities of a.first ence of a premarital pregnancy. union ending by separation within twen For all subgroups in the analysis, con ty years of the onset of union equal ,27, sensual unions are characterized by sev .40. and .18 in the three countries respec eral times the risk of separation of legal tively. The probabilities of separation marriages. The frequency of consensual have been relatively constant over time unions varies considerably by country and across cohorts, but show substantial (with Panama having twice the frequen variation by age at first union, age at first cy of Colombia and of Peru) and by birth, area ofresidence, and minor varia subgroup: women who form unions at tion by level of education and the pres- young ages, who reside in rural areas, Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/18/4/659/905270/659goldman.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 678 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 18, number 4, November 1981 and who have attained only low levels of el, which is designed to analyze the education if any, are especially likely to effects of covariates on life table proba form consensual unions as their first bilities (e.g., Menken et al., 1981). union. The different prevalence of con- sensual unions among the different sub groups affects the associations between ACKNOWLEDGMENTS union stability and the various correlates The author would like to thank David of stability. Specifically the relationships Smith who provided most of the comput among probabilities of separation, the er programs for this analysis as well as frequency of consensual unions, and age continuous advice, and John Casterline at first union or area of residence or level and Enrique Carrasco who provided of education are such that patterns of helpful comments and criticisms on an dissolution within a given union type earlier version of this manuscript. The differ substantially from those for all research for this paper was carried out unions combined. 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