New Path to Marriage: Union Formation among Youth in the Philippines

Maria Midea M. Kabamalan, University of Hawaii at Manoa

There is recent evidence of change in the character of unions occurring in Philippine society. Filipinos continue to form unions but they do not necessarily and immediately "marry." Unofficial results from the 2002 Philippine Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFS3), a nationally representative survey of the population 15-27 years old, show that among those who have ever married, 31 percent are currently "living-in" but 67 percent reported having had a lived-in episode before formal marriage. Insights from in-depth interviews of selected respondents reveal that those who are currently living-in have plans of (formal) marriage. This may suggest that the path to union formation has undergone change recently. This change as well as some reasons and differentials for such change will be examined here.