Continuity and change in commuter partnerships: avoiding or postponing family migration |
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| Authors: | Marjolijn van der Klis |
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| Institution: | (1) University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | While most people in post-industrial societies, such as The Netherlands, continue to live as nuclear families, new household
arrangements have emerged in which couples no longer commit to living in one shared residence. One such household arrangement
is the commuter partnership, in which one partner lives near work part of the time. The objective in this article was to gain
a better understanding of the sustainability of commuter partnerships and to contribute to uncovering the function that this
household arrangement can have in the coordination of parallel careers of different household members over time. The study
draws on in-depth interviews with both individual partners in 30 commuter partnerships with at least one residence located
in The Netherlands, and a follow-up survey of the same commuter couples several years later. Our findings indicate that, for
most couples, the commuter partnership should not be regarded as a prelude to family migration, but rather as a household
arrangement by which family migration is avoided altogether, either for a limited period, or as a long-term alternative to
the nuclear family. The findings further indicate that, when couples look on their commuter partnership as the result of their
individual choice, they generally envision the future duration of their commuter partnership quite accurately. When their
choice is guided by the external circumstances of job contracts, couples appear to be less accurate in predicting the future
duration of their commuter partnerships.
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| Keywords: | Commuter partnership Household arrangement Life course Family migration Multiple residences Time horizon |
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