Entering a union in the twenty-first century: Cohabitation and ‘living apart together’

This chapter uses data from the HILDA survey to explore the relationship landscape of young Australians focussing on the transition to, and type of, first live-in relationship. Australians entered the twenty-first century having experienced 50 years of profound change in relationship formation, characterised by increasingly delayed marriage and a dramatic rise in unmarried cohabitation. Analyses of relationship formation behaviour almost exclusively focus on the live-in relationship. This chapter shows that social and economic factors result in delayed entry to cohabiting as well as married relationships. This delay has not led to a larger proportion of single people, but to the widespread uptake of LAT relationships in the early 20s. These LATs are considered serious by HILDA respondents, who indicate frequent contact and a high level of intention to cohabit with their LAT partners in the future. The chapter finds a strong age norm in relationship formation, a delay in entering unions, particularly marriage, and increasing selectivity of direct marriage in terms of education, religion and family background. It also finds that the relationship between direct marriage and education forms a u-shaped pattern with those with the least and the most education most likely to marry without cohabitation.