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This chapter aims to document the increase in cohabitation in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay) between 2010 and 2021, to analyze the role played in it by certain associated factors such as changes in the educational level of the population, age structure, and income distribution, and to evaluate the importance of people’s preferences (in terms of ideas or values) for cohabitation versus marriage. The results suggest that the models of nuptiality identified in previous studies coexist in the region: the traditional and the modern one, while there is a convergence of the prevalence of cohabitation among social groups within countries. Furthermore, although the prevalence of cohabitation as a springboard to marriage cannot be rejected, there are indications that suggest the presence of perceptions and ideas favorable to cohabitation as an alternative form of family organization, closer to the predictions of the theory of the second demographic transition than to the postponement of the age of entry into marriage and the birth of children.

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly affected family and school life. Evidence demonstrates how pandemic-induced online learning and home confinement can influence family dynamics and, consequently, students’ mental health and quality of life. This chapter extends the literature by building upon the perspective of family systems theory and focusing the analysis on graduate students who are underrepresented in COVID-19 research. Drawing from an online survey among 337 graduate students enrolled in a state university in the Philippines during the second year of the pandemic, this study examines the three family relationship domains (cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict), their predictive relationships with life satisfaction, and the mediating role of mental well-being on these relationships. Findings indicate favorable levels of cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict in the family. Respondents’ age, sex assigned at birth, and marital status were significantly correlated with at least one domain of family relationship. Cohesion and expressiveness yielded significant positive predictive relationships on mental well-being and life satisfaction. Furthermore, findings indicate the partial mediation of mental well-being on the relationship between cohesion and life satisfaction and full mediation on expressiveness and life satisfaction.

The literature on marriage formation neglects different pathways to marriage. This study focuses on arranged marriage, introduced marriage, and self-initiated marriage as three main marriage pathways in East Asia and examines how people’s marriage pathway choices are associated with education and change over time in mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Using data from the East Asian Social Survey, this study finds that education is associated with fewer arranged marriages and more self-initiated marriages and that more recent marriage cohorts also witness a decline in arranged marriages and an increase in self-initiated marriages. However, how introduced marriage is associated with education and change over time varies in four East Asian societies. The findings support the “developmentalism-marriage” framework that developmental idealism leads to modern marital practices.

Past research has established a relationship between the perceptions of fairness in the division of household labor and relationship satisfaction. Varying according to gender and time, this relationship has been found with differing outcomes, including relationship satisfaction, relationship happiness, divorce, and sexual frequency. Although this relationship has been well studied, little research has focused on how this relationship is moderated by relationship status. According to the Second Demographic Transition Theory (SDT), as societies become more “modern,” cohabitation will become more prevalent, eventually becoming socially and culturally equivalent to marriage. As such, it is vital to ask how cohabitation and marriage differ, or if they differ at all. Therefore, this gap is explored by asking, “How do perceptions of the division of household labor affect married and cohabitating heterosexual couples’ relationship happiness and chance of separation?” In order to answer this question, the National Survey of Families and Households (Wave III) is analyzed, with outcomes focusing on relationship happiness and chance of separation. Results indicate that when married and cohabitating individuals experience similar levels of happiness with their partner’s housework, they also experience similar levels of relationship happiness and chance of separation, with relationship status not affecting the impact happiness with partner’s housework has on these relationship outcomes. This suggests that cohabitation and marriage may continue to become more similar overall.

The rise of “strong man” politics in the Philippines brings attention to manhood narratives. Machismo remains a strong presence in the upper echelons of society, despite gender equality initiatives and a strong feminist movement. With Rodrigo Duterte portraying the “father-figure” of the nation, one questions what this type of manhood means for the Filipino family.

This study traces the construction of Filipino manhood in relation to the country’s strongest unit of the family. Utilizing a systematic review of seminal outputs on masculinity, this piece explores the definition of Filipino manhood using texts from various Filipino gender and development scholars. Sikolohiyang Pilipino or Indigenous Filipino Psychology frames the identified themes that surround the image of a Tunay na Lalaki or True Man. The labas (outer world) and loob (inner self) are then framed in relation to Filipino men’s roles. Intersections between one’s peer group, socio-economic class, and the situation in the global migration context inform the formation of one’s labas (outer self/identity). The findings indicate that Filipino manhood traits, as seen in one’s loob (inner self) contextualize one’s understanding of manhood’s construction as familial. By unearthing the nuances of manhood in the archipelago, this chapter showcases masculinities from the subaltern and purports possible ways of decolonizing “from below.”