Marriage and Cohabitation

Cohabitating has its pros and cons some of the advantages of it are: Sense of well-being, Delayed marriage, Knowledge about self and partner, and Safety. The disadvantages are: Feeling used or tricked, Problems with parents, Economic disadvantages, Effects on children, and other issues.

Today, alternative long-term relationships are growing in times in heterosexual and LGBTQ relationships. Cohabitation is defined by “Recent Changes in Family Structure” as quote: “an intimate relationship that includes a common living place and which exists without the benefit of legal, cultural, or religious sanction.” Between 2005 and 2009 2/3 of relationships approximately were preceded by cohabitation (“Rise of Cohabitation” 2014.) This arrangement is less committed and therefore it takes longer to end, without much emotional devastation of a pricey divorces. Most marriages still begin with cohabitation. However, it is becoming less and less likely that cohabitation will end in a marriage. Marriage is still common in today’s culture, with approximately 60.25 million married couples in 2016 (“Number of married couples in the United States from 1960 to 2016 (in millions)” 2016.) This is evident why it is killing the nuclear family standard. People are having less desire to fully commit to a marriage in the first place. 1950 social standards would have never accepted an unmarried couple as a part of a normal life so only can a legal marriage constitutes the ideal set forth. Another, way to break the standard is remove some components.

According to Dalton Conley, cohabitation is the “living together in an intimate relationship without formal, legal, or religious sanctioning”(Conley 458). From this, one can assume that cohabitation happens primarily between two people that are in a relationship. When looking at cohabitation within the United States, it has become more evident that it is slowly increasing in popularity. During the early ages, cohabitation was considered very scandalous and was frowned upon, but as the years progress, more and more couples start living together. Whether it is to experience the lifestyle they would have living together as if they were married or living together in order to save money, more and more people are living with their significant other.

Waal (2008) predicts that “there will be 2.93m cohabiting couples by 2021” (p. 47). This would be a 90% increase in the past 25 years. Cohabiting couples have become more common due to the increase in social acceptance. An article in the New York Times (2012) contributes the increase to the sexual revolution and the availability of birth control.

In this essay, “The Cohabitation Epidemic,” by Neil Clark Warren, is talking about why many people decide to live their lives in cohabitation instead of getting married right away. Older generations would look at cohabiting as being something bad or even immoral. In this century, this epidemic is something common and, notwithstanding, normal. Over the years, the U.S. Census Bureau has kept up with how this lifestyle has evolved. In 1970, they had 1 million people that were “unmarried-partner households,” and that number rose to 3.2 million in 1990. In the year 2000, they had 11 million people living in those situations.

　　Neil Clark Warren in his essay “The Cohabitation Epidemic” starts by using tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf’s case to mention the “cohabitation” issue and then quoting the data from the U.S Census Bureau and researcher Larry Bumpass to show that the number of people involved in cohabitation has significantly increased in the U.S in the last few decades. After that, Warren concludes that we should be alarmed over the recent increase of cohabiting couples. Before arguing against cohabitation, Warren introduces what kinds of people are cohabiting and why they are cohabiting. Followed by that, the author first uses the

Interview questions emphasized cohabitation and the links between cohabitation and marriage. The final sample consisted of 6,881 married couples and 682 cohabiting couples; of these, 5,648 spouses and 519 cohabiting partners completed questionnaires (Vol. 22, Issue 2).

They surveyed 115 cohabitators from working lower and middle classes. The article describes how the economy effects marital decision making, it also shows how these people perceive financial issues as important to marriage. Also, that people think that marriage will change their lives, people think marriage should only occurs once finically set. The investigation and methods they use to complete this article was in-depth. They use racially and ethnically diverse people of both genders. Manning, Smock and Porter take in different aspects like education, personal income, and employment statuses. Findings show that income varies significantly by race/ethnicity and gender. The survey is adequate for gathering

Over the past few decades, cohabitation has become more recent for couples and families. Cohabitation is when a couple who is not married is living under the same roof as if they are married. It does not refer to roommates or family members who live together, at least two people have to be in a romantic union for it to count as cohabitation. Cohabiting can be for a variety of different reasons. In the 1990s, around 2.5 million people were cohabiting but as of 2015 about 8.3 million people were cohabiting. (Cherlin 2004) Pamela Smock (2000) argues that cohabitation has increased tremendously over the past but it is short lived by couples either breaking the relationship off or proceeding to get married.

Tradition gives way to the new era. Saying “I do” before saying, “We found our new home,” is a thing of the past. Today, more and more couples are choosing cohabitation over marriage. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, between the year of 2006 and 2010, 48% of women ranging from age 15 to 44 years of age first lived with a man to whom they were not married (Grinberg). When compared to the numbers from 1995, which was 34% percent, the change in trend becomes obvious (Grinberg). There are many reasons why marriage is no longer the next big step for America’s unwedded couples.

Bruce Wydick argued that, “cohabitation may be narrowly defined as an intimate sexual union between two unmarried partners who share the same living quarter for a sustained period of time’’ (2). In other words, people who want to experience what being in a relationship truly is, tend to live under one roof and be more familiar with one-another. Couples are on the right path to set a committed relationship where the discussion about marriage is considered as the next step. However, many people doubt the fact as to live or not together with their future

Due to the shifts in people’s lifestyles, marriage has become less central in society. The traditional precept that a couple should legalize their relationship through marriage before living together has declined these days due to the transformation of people’s attitude and thoughts towards the act of marriage. As a result, couples who are not inclined towards marriage have turned to alternate courses in their relationship. One of the most common living styles most young people have chosen is the live-in relationship or cohabitation. It raises the question of whether this lifestyle choice is more beneficial to cohabiters rather than marriage. Although it is a trending lifestyle, the issue is still a social controversy nowadays.

These constraints lead some cohabiting couples to marry, even though they would not have married under other circumstances. On the basis of this framework, Stanley, Rhoades, et al. (2006) argued that couples who are engaged prior to cohabitation, compared with those who are not, should report fewer problems and greater relationship stability following marriage, given that they already have made a major commitment to their partners. Several studies have provided evidence consistent with this hypothesis (Brown, 2004; Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, 2009).

Cohabitation is defined as a man and woman living in the same household and having sexual relations while not being married. There is relatively little data on health outcomes for people who have cohabitated, although there is some evidence that cohabitating couples have lower incomes (15% of cohabitating men are jobless while 8% of married men are jobless) and there may be negative academic effects for children of cohabitating mothers (Jay, 2012). Cohabitation rates are highest among those who have never married with just over a quarter of people surveyed reporting cohabitation before their first marriage (Jay, 2012). Of these, half reported that they expected their cohabitation to end in marriage; about one quarter to one third of cohabitations end either in marriage or dissolution of the relationship within 3 years (Jay, 2012). Further, cohabitation rates are highest for those who have not completed college, accounting for all but 12% of men and women reporting that they are living with their partners (Jay, 2012). Cohabitation and marriage are two significant decisions college students will make, but very little is known about what college students think about living together before marriage. Given the nearly 50% divorce rate in the United States (Jay, 2012), understanding how young adults view cohabitation as on option for life relationships needs further investigation.

For today’s young adults, the first generation to come of age during the divorce revolution, living together seems like a good way to achieve some of the benefits of marriage and avoid the risk of divorce. Couples who live together can share expenses and learn more about each other. They can find out if their partner has what it takes to be married. If things don’t work out, breaking up is easy to do. Cohabiting couples do not have to seek