Are Female-Breadwinner Couples Always Less Stable? Evidence from French Administrative Data.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Longitudinal administrative cohort study tracking union dissolution across relative income arrangements
PubMed 38869705 · doi:10.1007/s10680-024-09705-7
What was done
The authors used longitudinal French administrative registry data covering a 4% sample of the French population (analyzing more than 100,000 union dissolution events) with precise income records. They used regression models to estimate the association between partners' relative income arrangements—specifically female-breadwinner status—and the risk of union dissolution across married, cohabiting, and registered partnership couples, adjusting for partners' employment status and cohort.
What was found
Female-breadwinner couples had a higher risk of union dissolution compared to other income arrangements. This penalty persisted across all birth cohorts (with no fading among younger cohorts), household income levels, and union types (marriage, cohabitation, registered partnerships). For younger cohabiting and registered partnership couples, dissolution risk was lowest when both partners were employed and contributed equal shares of household income. Specific numerical effect sizes, hazard ratios, and confidence intervals were not reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
This study provides large-scale population evidence that the female-breadwinner stability penalty remains robust across relationship forms and younger generations, while highlighting equal-earner arrangements as an emerging profile of stability among younger non-married couples.
Limits
The abstract reports no numerical effect estimates or confidence intervals. Administrative data lack measures of relationship quality, psychological dynamics, division of domestic labor, and subjective gender role attitudes. Findings from French administrative registers may not generalize to contexts with different welfare, tax, or cultural frameworks.