Studies documenting both economic and social advantages to stable marriages and quality relationships explain why the indicators and outcomes of long-term relationship stability are of great interest to social scientists. The vast majority of these studies explore relationship stability exclusively among heterosexual couples, and many utilize theoretical perspectives that either explicitly or implicitly rely upon gender norms and roles as factors that explain social and economic behavior within couples. Analyses that include coupling behavior in same-sex couples provide a unique opportunity to explore indicators and outcomes of relationship stability in the absence of the interaction of male and female gender norms and roles. Census data from both the United States and Canada are probably the only data sources with sufficient data on both same-sex and different-sex couples to permit valid comparisons across varying coupling arrangements. The proposed study utilizes 2000 US Census data and 2001 Canadian Census data to describe the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of different-sex and same-sex couples and examine how co-residential stability affects these characteristics and economic outcomes. Using both the 2000 US Census 5-percent Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) and the 2001 Canadian Census long-form data, this study explores relationships among four coupling types-- heterosexual married couples, heterosexual unmarried partners (common-law partners in Canada), and same-sex male and female unmarried partners (common-law partners in Canada)--and compares individuals in these coupling arrangements with their non-cohabiting counterparts. The proposed analyses are designed to address the following specific aims: 1. Construct a demographic and socio-economic comparative portrait of non-cohabiting individuals and different-sex and same-sex couples in the United States and Canada. 2. Explore the effects of stable cohabitation on these demographic and socio-economic characteristics, and conduct comparative analyses that consider differences in observed patterns across various coupling types. 3. Compare findings for the United States and Canada and consider how differing survey methodology and different national policies relating to marriage, divorce, and the extent of legal recognition of same-sex couples might affect demographic characteristics.
