Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course
Published on 29. April 2025
Book
Hardback
394 pages
978-1-80392-337-6 (ISBN)
Description
This Research Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the changing landscape of human partnerships, integrating diverse theoretical and empirical perspectives. Leading scholars explore the complex interplay between individual life trajectories, societal norms, and legal frameworks in shaping modern relationships.
The Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course is an interdisciplinary collaboration by researchers in demography, sociology, psychology, and law. Chapters discuss marriage, cohabitation, and relationships, covering LGBTQ+, long-distance, arranged, polyamorous, and living apart together (LAT) partnerships. They address partnerships across the life course, from formation, including online dating and hook-up culture, to break-ups, re-partnering, and partnerships in later life. The contributing authors analyse the dynamics within a partnership, focusing on key aspects like sex, money, and children, as well as related factors such as family, health, gender, and migration, along with their impacts. Ultimately, the Research Handbook examines diversity in partnerships across the globe and explores the roles of the economy and the welfare state.
Presenting innovative insights on relationship dynamics, this Research Handbook is a crucial resource for students and scholars across the social sciences working on family and gender studies.
The Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course is an interdisciplinary collaboration by researchers in demography, sociology, psychology, and law. Chapters discuss marriage, cohabitation, and relationships, covering LGBTQ+, long-distance, arranged, polyamorous, and living apart together (LAT) partnerships. They address partnerships across the life course, from formation, including online dating and hook-up culture, to break-ups, re-partnering, and partnerships in later life. The contributing authors analyse the dynamics within a partnership, focusing on key aspects like sex, money, and children, as well as related factors such as family, health, gender, and migration, along with their impacts. Ultimately, the Research Handbook examines diversity in partnerships across the globe and explores the roles of the economy and the welfare state.
Presenting innovative insights on relationship dynamics, this Research Handbook is a crucial resource for students and scholars across the social sciences working on family and gender studies.
Reviews / Votes
'This volume brings together scholars from around the world to explore partnerships and their many forms over time and place. It is a valuable resource for the field-offering an interdisciplinary lens on the diversity and dynamics of partnerships, their interplay with broader social norms and institutions, and their importance for health and well-being.' -- Kelly Musick, Cornell University, USA 'Dimitri Mortelmans, Laura Bernardi, and Brienna Perelli-Harris have crafted a collaborative work brimming with extraordinary academic quality and addressing the fascinating topic of partnering from multiple perspectives. Featuring both established and emerging voices in the field of family demography and sociology, this Research Handbook will make a significant and lasting contribution.' -- Albert Esteve, Center for Demographic Studies and Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain 'This Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course provides an extraordinarily comprehensive review of current theory and research on partner relationships. Because contemporary data and research on partner relationships is dominated by studies from western wealthy societies, it is especially laudable that the book contains reviews of what we do know about intimate partnerships in other parts of the world.' -- Elizabeth Thomson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA and Stockholm University, SwedenMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80392-337-6 (9781803923376)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Dimitri Mortelmans, Centre for Population, Family and Health (CPFH), University of Antwerp, Belgium, Laura Bernardi, Swiss Center of Expertise in Life Course Research (LIVES), University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Brienna Perelli-Harris, Department of Social Statistics and Demography, University of Southampton, UK
Content
Contents
1 Introduction to Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course 1
Dimitri Mortelmans, Laura Bernardi and Brienna Perelli-Harris
PART I THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON PARTNERSHIP
2 Historical perspectives on partnering 14
Rebecca Probert
3 Anthropological perspectives on partnering 24
Julia Pauli
4 Sociological perspectives on partnerships 38
Brienna Perelli-Harris and Sharon Sassler
5 Psychological perspectives on partnering 50
Esther Kluwer and Tea Trillingsgaard
PART II PARTNERSHIP DIVERSITY
6 Married and cohabiting partnerships 64
Nicole Hiekel
7 Arranged marriage 76
Keera Allendorf
8 LGBTQ+ partnerships 89
Isabeau Van Acker, Chao Song, Els Elaut and Alexis Dewaele
9 Living apart together 102
Arnaud Regnier-Loilier
10 Polyamory 117
Tonina Liriel Aurel and Cornelia Schadler
11 Being single in the twenty-first century 129
Elyakim Kislev
PART III PARTNERSHIPS ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE
12 Dating and online partnership formation 141
Gina Potarca
13 Re-partnering across the life course 153
Katya Ivanova
14 Partnerships in later life 165
Pearl A. Dykstra
15 Widowhood and grey divorce 178
Michaela Kreyenfeld and Sarah Schmauk
PART IV CORRELATES AND CONSEQUENCES OF PARTNERSHIPS
16 Parental influences on partner relationships 192
Aart C. Liefbroer
17 Health and partnerships 203
Gerald R. Nowak III and Hui Liu
18 Migration, ethnic diversity, and partnerships 214
Nadja Milewski
19 Biopsychosocial perspectives on close relationships 228
Lane Beckes
PART V PROCESSES INSIDE PARTNERSHIPS
20 Money, work, and wealth in partnerships 241
Nicole Kapelle
21 The partnership context of childbearing 254
Julia Mikolai
22 Relationship quality 265
Jeremy Kanter, Susan Sprecher and Terri Orbuch
PART VI PARTNERSHIPS WITHIN SOCIETIES
23 Social stratification and partnerships 279
Diederik Boertien
24 The economy and partnerships 291
Daniele Vignoli and Raffaele Guetto
PART VII PARTNERSHIPS AROUND THE WORLD
25 Partnering in Africa 304
Oluwaseyi Dolapo Somefun, Bolade Hamed Banougnin, Kirsten Stoebenau
and Emily Smith-Greenaway
26 Partnering in the Middle East and North Africa 316
Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi and Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi
27 Partnering in East Asia 332
Yen-hsin Alice Cheng and Chen-Hao Hsu
28 Partnering in Latin America 347
Pilar Wiegand-Cruz
1 Introduction to Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course 1
Dimitri Mortelmans, Laura Bernardi and Brienna Perelli-Harris
PART I THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON PARTNERSHIP
2 Historical perspectives on partnering 14
Rebecca Probert
3 Anthropological perspectives on partnering 24
Julia Pauli
4 Sociological perspectives on partnerships 38
Brienna Perelli-Harris and Sharon Sassler
5 Psychological perspectives on partnering 50
Esther Kluwer and Tea Trillingsgaard
PART II PARTNERSHIP DIVERSITY
6 Married and cohabiting partnerships 64
Nicole Hiekel
7 Arranged marriage 76
Keera Allendorf
8 LGBTQ+ partnerships 89
Isabeau Van Acker, Chao Song, Els Elaut and Alexis Dewaele
9 Living apart together 102
Arnaud Regnier-Loilier
10 Polyamory 117
Tonina Liriel Aurel and Cornelia Schadler
11 Being single in the twenty-first century 129
Elyakim Kislev
PART III PARTNERSHIPS ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE
12 Dating and online partnership formation 141
Gina Potarca
13 Re-partnering across the life course 153
Katya Ivanova
14 Partnerships in later life 165
Pearl A. Dykstra
15 Widowhood and grey divorce 178
Michaela Kreyenfeld and Sarah Schmauk
PART IV CORRELATES AND CONSEQUENCES OF PARTNERSHIPS
16 Parental influences on partner relationships 192
Aart C. Liefbroer
17 Health and partnerships 203
Gerald R. Nowak III and Hui Liu
18 Migration, ethnic diversity, and partnerships 214
Nadja Milewski
19 Biopsychosocial perspectives on close relationships 228
Lane Beckes
PART V PROCESSES INSIDE PARTNERSHIPS
20 Money, work, and wealth in partnerships 241
Nicole Kapelle
21 The partnership context of childbearing 254
Julia Mikolai
22 Relationship quality 265
Jeremy Kanter, Susan Sprecher and Terri Orbuch
PART VI PARTNERSHIPS WITHIN SOCIETIES
23 Social stratification and partnerships 279
Diederik Boertien
24 The economy and partnerships 291
Daniele Vignoli and Raffaele Guetto
PART VII PARTNERSHIPS AROUND THE WORLD
25 Partnering in Africa 304
Oluwaseyi Dolapo Somefun, Bolade Hamed Banougnin, Kirsten Stoebenau
and Emily Smith-Greenaway
26 Partnering in the Middle East and North Africa 316
Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi and Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi
27 Partnering in East Asia 332
Yen-hsin Alice Cheng and Chen-Hao Hsu
28 Partnering in Latin America 347
Pilar Wiegand-Cruz