To Marry or Not to Marry: Financial Aspects of Cohabitation Couples in Russia

The present study refers to the intimate relationships in sociology particularly the practice of cohabitation. In modern Russia the cohabitation becomes more and more common among young and middle-aged people.  There are several explanations for this phenomenon: the second demographic transition, the changing values of the society, the marriage market by Becker or the influence of the previous partnership. The secondary data is represented by GGS database (“Generations and Gender”), includes information about he changes of relationships between generations and gender over the time. It is a panel data in Russia with three waves in 2004, 2007 and 2011 years. The general purpose of this study is to identify the key factors, which may influence the decision to applied in this intention by cohabitating couples to marry or to separate. The regression and correlation analysis may serve the purposes of the present inquiry. The anticipated results are likely to determine which influence implementation of intentions to marry or to separate and help to design two models for young and middle-aged people separately. These findings suggested that the cohabitation it is not only a preparation for official marriage, imply that cohabitation for young people it is a new format of relationships, because youth young people can't afford the full economic freedom for high-grade household; cohabitation for middle-aged people it is a comfortable union without official confirmation, because particular union helpful for partners, which have had in the past unhappy marriage. The analysis of the current situation shows that the Institute of marriage and family has changed. It is possible to present some evidence of the fact that today in Russia the institution of marriage loses its relevance.