Sexual orientation and the ‘cohabitation gap’ in life satisfaction in Canada

Maryam Dilmaghani ()

Review of Economics of the Household, 2019, vol. 17, issue 4, No 4, 1163-1189

Abstract: Abstract The ‘cohabitation gap’ refers to the generally higher life satisfaction of married spouses compared with those who cohabit without being married. The effects of sexual orientation on the cohabitation gap has thus far received no scholarly attention. Exploiting the unique opportunity offered by the Canadian General Social Surveys, the present paper examines how sexual orientation relates to the cohabitation gap for the first time. The data used in this study covers 2010 to 2015, and the life satisfaction gaps are both cardinally and ordinally measured. Regardless of the measurement approach, the cohabitation gap is found to be the largest for gay males and non-existent for lesbians. There is a cohabitation gap for heterosexuals, which is somewhat larger for females. Various explanations are discussed.

Keywords: Sexual orientation; Life satisfaction; Cohabitation gap; Canada (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 J13 J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1007/s11150-018-9433-1

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