Young Adulthood: Cohabitation, Birth, and Marriage Experiences

Family Profile No. 22, 2018
Author: Paul Hemez

Forming a family by having a child or living with a romantic partner (especially in marriage) is considered a marker of adulthood. However, young adults’ experiences of family formation behaviors have shifted over time. As young men and women wait longer to have children or get married (FP-16-07; FP-17-22), and cohabitation has become a more common experience in recent decades (FP-17-02). Using rounds 1-17 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this Family Profile examines the share of young adults who had a child, got married, and/or cohabited before their 30th birthday for the cohort of men and women who were born between 1980 and 1984.

Cohabitation, Parenthood, and Marriage Experience in Young Adulthood

• Among the three family formation experiences considered, cohabitation was the most common – over six in ten young adults had cohabited prior to their 30th birthday.
• Overall, half of young adults had become a parent by their 30th birthday.
• Marriage was the least common family formation experience, as only 45% of young adults had married by age 30.

Figure 1. Percentage of Young Adults Who Experienced Cohabitation, Parenthood, and Marriage Before Age 30

Cohabitation Experience in Young Adulthood

A larger share of women (66%) cohabited during young adulthood than their male counterparts (57%).

• Having cohabited prior to age 30 was most common for Whites (63%) followed by Hispanics (60%) and Blacks (57%).
• Men and women with a high school degree or GED experienced cohabitation more often (67%) relative to other educational attainment groups, whereas those with a Bachelor’s degree or more had the lowest share of cohabitation experience (54%).

Figure 2. Percentage of Young Adults Who Cohabited Before Age 30, by Select Demographic Characteristics

Parenthood Experience in Young Adulthood

• A larger share of women (56%) became parents during young adulthood than men (44%).
• More than half of Hispanics (58%) and nearly two- thirds of Blacks had a child before their 30th birthday compared to 45% of Whites.
• A bout six in ten of those with less than a high school education became parents during young adulthood. On the other hand, among men and women holding a Bachelor’s degree or more, slightly over three in ten became a parent by age 30.

Figure 3. Percentage of Young Adults Who Experienced Parenthood Before Age 30, by Select Demographic Characteristics

Marriage in Young Adulthood

• More than half (51%) of w omen born between 1980 and 1984 married prior to their 30th birthday. Among men who were born between these years, about 40% had married by age 30.
• Marriage experience during young adulthood was almost twice as common for Whites (49%) than it was for Blacks (26%). Hispanic young adults had a slightly lower share of marriage experience (44%) than Whites.
• Over half of those with an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree married before the age of 30, whereas less than one-third of those with less than a high school degree had married.

Figure 4. Percentage of Young Adults Who Married Before Age 30, by Select Demographic Characteristics

References

• Anderson, L (2016). Median age at first marriage, 2014. Family Profiles, FP-16-07. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Demographic Research. https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/anderson-payne-median-age-first-marriage-fp-16-07.html
• Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort, 1997-2015 (rounds 1-17). Produced by the National Opinion Research Center, the University of Chicago and distributed by the Center for Human Resource Research, The Ohio State University. Columbus, OH: 2015.
• Eickmeyer, K. J., Payne, K. K., Brown, S. L., & Manning, W. D. (2017). Crossover in the median age at first marriage and birth: Thirty-five years of change. Family Profiles, FP-17-22. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Demographic Research. https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family- profiles/eickmeyer-payne-brown-manning-crossover-age-first-marriage-birth-fp-17-22.html
• Hemez, P., & Manning, W. D. (2017). Over twenty-five years of change in cohabitation experience in the U.S., 1987-2013. Family Profiles, FP-17-02. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Demographic Research. https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/hemez-manning-25- years-change-cohabitation-fp-17-02.html
  

Suggested Citation

• Hemez, P. (2018). Young adulthood: Cohabitation, birth, and marriage experiences. Family Profiles, FP-18-22. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-18-22.