Same-Sex and Different-Sex Cohabiting Couple Relationship Stability

Wendy D. Manning · Susan L. Brown · J. Bart Stykes

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Family Dynamics and Relationships LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy Marriage and Sexual Relationships

Abstract

Relationship stability is a key indicator of well-being, but most U.S.-based research has been limited to different-sex couples. The 2008 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) provides an untapped data resource to analyze relationship stability of same-sex cohabiting, different-sex cohabiting, and different-sex married couples (n = 5,701). The advantages of the SIPP data include the recent, nationally representative, and longitudinal data collection; a large sample of same-sex cohabitors; respondent and partner socioeconomic characteristics; and identification of a state-level indicator of a policy stating that marriage is between one man and one woman (i.e., DOMA). We tested competing hypotheses about the stability of same-sex versus different-sex cohabiting couples that were guided by incomplete institutionalization, minority stress, relationship investments, and couple homogamy perspectives (predicting that same-sex couples would be less stable) as well as economic resources (predicting that same-sex couples would be more stable). In fact, neither expectation was supported: results indicated that same-sex cohabiting couples typically experience levels of stability that are similar to those of different-sex cohabiting couples. We also found evidence of contextual effects: living in a state with a constitutional ban against same-sex marriage was significantly associated with higher levels of instability for same- and different-sex cohabiting couples. The level of stability in both same-sex and different-sex cohabiting couples is not on par with that of different-sex married couples. The findings contribute to a growing literature on health and well-being of same-sex couples and provide a broader understanding of family life.

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References

1995Minority Stress and Mental Health in Gay Men 2010Research on Divorce: Continuing Trends and New Developments 1978Remarriage as an Incomplete Institution 2000Demographics of the gay and lesbian population in the United States: Evidence from available systematic data sources 1999The Ties That Bind: Principles of Cohesion in Cohabitation and Marriage 2009State-Level Policies and Psychiatric Morbidity In Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations 1995A Comparison of Marriages and Cohabiting Relationships 2004Are Gay and Lesbian cohabiting couples really different from heterosexual married couples?

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