Cohabitation-my research paper

I wrote this for my Marriage and Family Relations class this semester. It's a little dry, but that's a college research paper, isn't it? :)

Cohabitation and Marriage
Kim P
April 2007

Today many people of marriageable age, mainly those aged in their twenties and thirties, are choosing to cohabit. Cohabitation means that unmarried persons of either the same or opposite sex who are not related are living in the same household. The percentage of these couples has risen tenfold since 1960 and seventy-four percent since 1990. The percentage of unmarried couples has risen over 1200 percent since 1960, when there was one cohabiting couple for every ninety married couples. Today, there is one cohabiting couple for every twelve married couples, with over twenty-five percent of women ages twenty-five to thirty-nine cohabiting at the present time and forty-one percent aged fifteen to forty-four having cohabited at some point in their lives. Cohabitation is considered a threat to modern marriage, with just below fifty percent of cohabitating couples ever marrying, lowering the marriage rate the world over.
There are many reasons why people choose to cohabit, including the idea that living together before marriage will allow couples to discover what marriage would be like with another person. More than sixty percent of high school-aged children agreed that cohabitation is beneficial, allowing couples to “get to know each other better” before entering into marriage. Some cohabiting couples say they cohabit out of convenience, or for financial independence, or lowering the cost of living. However, most cohabiting adults claim they cohabit on the basis of emotional and sexual intimacy without the distance of living in separate homes, while maintaining the freedom of not being married. Others tend to cohabit to have a close companion, to prepare for marriage, to test a couple’s stability and compatibility, and to learn each other’s nuances and habits from a different perspective. Many people see cohabitation as a way to pave the way for a more intimate and compatible relationship and marriage, without risking divorce. Couples also cohabit when their marriage would not be legally recognized or sanctioned, such as the marriage of same-sex couples, with over eight percent of today’s cohabiting couples being homosexual. It is also a way for polygamists to continue their lifestyles without directly breaking anti-polygamist laws in the United States. Cohabitation is considered an alternative to marriage for gay and lesbian couples, as well as others, while still encompassing the issues and responsibilities of a traditional marriage.
However, fewer than fifty percent of the cohabitations in the United States end in marriage. Although many think that cohabitation would increase the likelihood of a happy marriage, it has been found that cohabitation actually increases the risk for divorce. There are many reasons as to why cohabitation is proven detrimental to marriage, such as the idea that people who are willing to live together before marriage are more unconventional and tend to be less committed to the relationship, making it more likely, and easier for, the marriage to end in divorce. It is believed that cohabiting couples have lower moral standards, and are more sexually active than non-cohabiting couples. It is also thought that many cohabitants are not prepared for the commitment of marriage, and those with fears of commitment may “settle” for a cohabiting relationship in lieu of marriage. Many of the people who choose to cohabit have lower levels of education and higher poverty levels. Cohabiting couples’ relationships therefore tend to be outlasted by those of couples who did not cohabitate prior to marriage. The relationships of cohabitating couples last an average of five years, the majority ending in separation or marriage.
In contrast to the many negative things associated with cohabitation, there are also positive attributes. Some states in the United States recognize this growing trend and view cohabitation as a legal common-law marriage, providing that certain criteria have been met. Cohabitants can file joint taxes, as do married couples, which lowers income tax rates, and generally have fewer legal issues than married couples. Financial stability is beneficial, with cohabiting couples spending less money on rent, utilities, and other fees that would generally be amassed by maintaining two households instead of one. Although it is true that cohabitation increases the possibility of divorce in those relationships that end in marriage, it is also true that there is no difference in risk of divorce rates if the cohabitation is limited to a future spouse. The same statistics apply to those cohabiting couples who take premarital education classes or receive premarital counseling. It has been found that if a marriage of cohabitants lasts seven years or longer, the risk of divorce is the same as that of couples who never cohabited.
In today’s society, cohabitation has become widely accepted as an alternative to marriage, although much opposition remains, whether from moral or religious standpoints. However, the trend of cohabitation is one of increasing appeal as the standards of life change with the times. All in all, though cohabitation has positive attributes and appeal, the fact remains that many people of marriageable age are choosing to forgo marriage and cohabit instead, enforcing the opinion that cohabitation is proving to be detrimental to the legal institution as well as the religious sanction of marriage in the United States.

Bibliography

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“Should We Live Together?” October 2001. 20 April 2007. http://www4.nau.edu/fronske/brochures/Cohabitation.html.

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