Relationship Dissolution

This chapter provides an overview of recent trends in divorce and relationship dissolution in Australian society. It commences by describing historical and contemporary trends in marriage dissolution using Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data. These data offer little insight into the dissolution of cohabiting relationships. To fill this gap we use unit record data from the first 10 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to compare and contrast the stability of marital compared to cohabiting relationships since 1995. Next we examine the consequences of marital and cohabiting relationship dissolution for income and health outcomes for men and women. We conclude with a brief discussion of the extent to which unstable marriages have been replaced by cohabitation