Partnership Quality, Conflicts and Intentions to Break up in Russia

Elena Churilova , National Research University Higher School of Economics
Sergei V. Zakharov, Institute of Demography, Higher School of Economics,

The most studies on divorce and union dissolution focus on the characteristics of spouses such as age at marriage, age difference and education difference and other classical factors as the duration of the union, the presence of children, type of union. However, the relationship quality and the frequency of conflicts could influence on the decision to break up union. In this paper we analyze the partnership quality and the impact of separation intentions on union dissolution risk in Russia. We use panel data from the Russian Generation and Gender Survey carried out in 2004, 2007 and 2011 using competing-risk regression. The analysis focuses on women and men separately, both marital and cohabiting unions are considering, as well as other predictors of union dissolution are discussed including age at union formation, children, age difference, union cohort and settlement. The results show that both men and women which often have conflicts with partners consider separation. However, women are more likely to act: they have a higher dissolution risk both in case of determined decision to break up union and not well determined intension to break up.

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 Presented in Session P1. Poster Session Fertility, Family and the Life Course