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The family system in Jamaica is extremely unstable with high rates of dissolution of sexual unions and high levels of fertility outside marriage. The 3 commonly recognized types of fertile sexual unions are visiting common-law and marriage. Of these visiting unions are most predominant overall as well as in every age group and marriage the least. By age 49 most Jamaican women have had 2 partners and have been involved in 3 unions. Empirical studies of the relationship between fertility and union stability in Jamaica have shown strong support for a positive association between the number of partners and/or unions and cumulative fertility. This study tests the hypothesis that fertility may stabilize a partnership by increasing the probability of a transition to a more stable form of sexual union. The study data were collected in interviews with a sample of women between the ages of 15 and 49 from the Jamaica Fertility Survey (1975-76) which was part of the World Fertility Survey Program. The 1st union of everyone in the sample was a visiting one and no one had children prior to the start of that 1st union. The main reason for limiting the analysis to this sample is that given the high frequency with which Jamaican women begin their union histories with the visit version it would be the appropriate starting point from which to study transition to more stable unions. The study findings show that for women whose 1st sexual union was a visiting one fertility operates in 2 opposing directions. While it significantly lowers the likelihood of a move into the stabler unions of common-law and marriage it also lowers a partnership turnover into single status or with a new partner. In other words fertility raises the stability of the existing visiting union. Further research aimed at analyzing transitions out of higher-order unions should be able to shed more light on the issue.
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