Cohabitation Arrangements More Likely to End in Divorce?

[MysterionMuffles]

I heard Stefan say on a recent call in show, the first Saturday night one to be exact, that moving in with eachother before marriage raises the chances of divorce. I don't understand. Wouldn't living together to see if you like it be a precursor to a happier, healthier marriage?

[lee1138]

The evidence seems to indicate differently from what would seem a reasonable assumption.  It is, of course, aggregate, your mileage may vary, but by and large, people who 'shack up' before marriage have a higher 'risk' of divorce.  The jury is still out on exactly why this is the case.

[Freedomain]

http://www.livescience.com/5561-prenuptial-cohabiting-spoil-marriage.html

http://www.psychologytoday.com/print/23067

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/13/AR2009081304118_pf.html

[RyanT]

Yeah, does seem pretty counter-intuitive,

 

Purely my conjecture but...

 

Basically living together as man and wife, without actually being married is kinda ambiguous,

and that's usually where things go awry, 'are you in, or are you out?'

 

A bit like if you were dating/seeing/sleeping with someone for like 6 months before you 'officially became an item', 

 

Why?

 

....Just seen the articles Mike linked,

 

 

"Perhaps if a person is feeling a need to test the relationship, he or she already knows some important information about how a relationship may go over time."

http://www.livescience.com/5561-prenuptial-cohabiting-spoil-marriage.html

[MysterionMuffles]

Cool, thanks for the links.

What I gather is that it's a fence sitting kind of situation. Interesting. Thank you for giving me much to mull over. 

 

I'm still a bachelor and all, but just got back into the game of dating. I needed to know about this some more because I was considering moving in with a woman if I found any I would like to date consistently and build a relationship with.

 

However, I DO value my solitude and privacy so I don't think it'd be too bad living separate from someone until marriage. I'll still give it some thought.

[Ludo Kanta]

Here's an article, based on the new study which claims cohabiting itself is not a factor in divorce rates. I still think there are issues specific for cohabitation, but if anyone's interested in the topic, you might find the sources below somewhat valuable.

 

Article:

"Kuperberg found that individuals who committed to cohabitation or marriage at the age of 18 saw a 60 percent rate of divorce. Whereas individuals who waited until 23 to commit saw a divorce rate that hovered more around 30 percent."

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/the-science-of-cohabitation-a-step-toward-marriage-not-a-rebellion/284512/

 

Study (brief report, couldn't find the unpaid full version):

"...  when couples are compared by the age at which they move in together ... there is no difference in divorce rates between couples that lived together before marriage and those that didn’t."

https://contemporaryfamilies.org/cohabitation-divorce-brief-report/
 

Experts comments on the study:

"...financial needs often precipitate the move into shared living among the less advantaged, while the college educated are better able to maintain separate homes while getting to know each other and assessing whether their relationship has a future. College-educated individuals also enter into shared living at older ages, on average – frequently after completing their degree. These differences undoubtedly contribute to the fact that less-educated cohabitors are more likely to break up before ever entering marriage, and more likely to divorce if they do marry, than their better-educated counterparts.

It may be premature, then, to assert that premarital cohabitation is not associated with an increased risk of divorce. "

 

"...early cohabitation – not just at a young age but at an early stage in a relationship – is a risk factor for relationship stability. Arielle Kuperberg’snew study shows that this is equally true for marriage.

...marrying in response to an unintended pregnancy is hardly a recipe for relationship stability, especially for low-income women. 

 [but] Postconception (“shotgun”) cohabiting unions are ... almost three times more likely than postconception marriages to end by the child’s third birthday. "

https://contemporaryfamilies.org/cohabitation-divorce-commentaries/