Racial Differences in Union Formation: An Intergenerational Perspective on Recent Trends, 1985-2015

• In Event: 2452 - New Insights and Trends in Relationship Formation

Abstract

Since the mid-20th century, non-Hispanic black and white Americans have followed increasingly divergent paths into marriage and non-marital cohabiting unions. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we make two contributions to the literature on racial gaps in union formation. First, we describe how these gaps have evolved recently: We introduce new information on the 1970--1995 birth cohorts, who began marrying between 1985--2015; we augment prior period estimates with cohort estimates (which may be more accurate during times of rapid change); and we describe how racial gaps have varied across the socioeconomic distribution (measuring parental income, not only individuals' own education, which may be endogenous to their union formation choices). Second, we illuminate two intergenerational sources of the evolving racial gaps in union formation: family geographic history (wherein black Americans' increasingly distant southern roots contribute to union-formation gaps among both low- and high-income populations) and parental union stability (wherein increasing racial disparities in childhood family transitions, even among high-income populations, generate divergent union-formation trends). We provide new insights into how family inequalities persist.

Author

• Deirdre Bloome, University of Michigan