Unintended fertility and the stability of coresidential relationships

Having an unintended birth is associated with maternal and child health outcomes, the mother–child relationship, and subsequent fertility. Unintended fertility likely also increases the risk of union dissolution for parents, but it is unclear whether this association derives from a causal effect or selection processes and whether it differs by union type. This article uses data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth to compare union stability after intended and unintended births in coresidential relationships. Results show that coresidential couples are more likely to break up after an unintended first or higher-order birth than after an intended first or higher-order birth, even when accounting for stable unobserved characteristics using fixed-effects models. The negative association is stronger for marriages than cohabitations, despite the overall higher dissolution rate of cohabiting unions. We conclude that unintended fertility at any parity is disruptive for coresidential couples in ways that increase the risk of union dissolution.

► Unintended fertility may increase the risk of union dissolution. ► The risk may be due to causal or selective processes. ► At any parity, dissolution risks are higher for unintended births than intended births. ► This association holds in both event history models and multilevel models. ► We conclude the association is likely due to causal processes.