Partnership Dynamics among Immigrants and Their Descendants in Four European Countries

This study investigates union formation and dissolution among immigrants and their descendants in four European countries with different migration histories and family patterns (United Kingdom, France, Spain and Estonia). Although there is a growing body of literature on migrant families in Europe, there is still little comparative research on partnership dynamics among immigrants and their descendants. We apply event history analysis to pooled data from the four countries. The analysis shows a significant variation in partnership patterns across migrant groups in some countries (e.g., South Asians versus Caribbeans in the UK) and similar partnership behaviour for some migrant groups in different countries (e.g., South Asians in the UK and immigrants from Turkey in France). Descendants of immigrants often exhibit partnership patterns that are similar to those of their parents’ generation. The country context matters; specific patterns are observed for Spain and Estonia.