Never partnered: A multilevel analysis of lifelong singlehood

Daniela Bellani, Lesia Nedoluzhko and Gøsta Esping-Andersen
Additional contact information
Daniela Bellani: Università di Bologna (UNIBO)
Lesia Nedoluzhko: Independent researcher
Gøsta Esping-Andersen: Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Demographic Research, 2017, vol. 37, issue 4, 53-100

Abstract: Background: 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.

Keywords: gender equity; gender roles; life-long singlehood; educational gradient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol37/4/37-4.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:demres:v:37:y:2017:i:4

DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2017.37.4

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Demographic Research from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Editorial Office ().