Family Structure and Marriage in Sweden and the U.S.

Excerpts from the Paper

Family Structure and Marriage in Sweden and the U.S.
Over the course of the last several decades, marriage has become de-emphasized in Sweden (
Bjorklund
,
Ginther
, and
Sundstrom
2). This means that fewer adults get married before cohabitating, or living one another, and fewer adults feel the need to marry to legitimate their relationships with one another. At the same time, because marriage is not very important as a cultural institution, it is not uncommon for children to be born out of wedlock and there are few psychological or social repercussions of the choice to have children in a heterosexual relationship between individuals who are not married. There is widespread family support – whether based in legal marriage or not – for...

.....ited
Bjorklund
, Anders, Donna K.
Ginther
, and Marianne
Sundstrom
. “Family Structure and Child Outcomes in the United States and Sweden,” Journal of Population Economics 20:1, 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2011, <http://people.ku.edu/~dginther/working%20papers/Family_structure.pdf>
Demsteader
, Christine. “Sweden Says “I do” to Same-Sex Marriage,”
Sweden.Se
, June 28, 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2011, <http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Reading/Sweden-says-I-do-to-same-sex-marriage/>
New York Times. “Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnerships,” The New York Times, February 25, 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html>