Cohabitation

Marital stability. Because cohabitation performs the function of a trial marriage, we would intuitively expect marriages preceded by cohabitation to be more stable than those not preceded by cohabitation. However, studies have shown that cohabitation negatively influences the quality and longevity of marriages (Axinn and Thornton 1992; Balakrishnan et al. 1987; Bennett, Blanc, and Bloom 1988). The higher incidence of divorce among former cohabitors has two basic explanations. First, the selection hypothesis suggests that same characteristics that make certain people most likely to enter cohabitation also make them most likely to divorce. People who cohabit before marriage generally have individualistic attitudes that make them less committed to marital union in the first place and more likely to seek divorce in response to marital problems. The experience hypothesis suggests that premarital union conditions cohabitors to accept divorce more readily. The cohabitation experience changes people's perspective on marriage and divorce because it emphasizes individual needs and demonstrates that there are alternatives to marriage.

Gender equality. Although the gender division of labor prevails within cohabitation, cohabiting couples may choose to organize this more equitably than is characteristic of marriage. Judith Seltzer (2000) notes that because cohabitation is often perceived as a trial marriage, women may select men who are willing to share domestic work. The desire for a fairer distribution of housework is pronounced for cohabiting women because many of them have paid employment outside of the home. However, although cohabitors profess more liberal gender attitudes, the reality is a different matter. According to Scott South and Glenna Spitze (1994), cohabitation and marriage do not differ significantly in terms of the gender division of labor. Cohabiting women do thirty-one hours of housework per week compared to thirty-seven hours for married women, and cohabiting men do nineteen hours per week compared to eighteen hours for married men.

Children. One of the essential purposes of marriage is procreation. If cohabitation is to develop into a viable alternative to marriage, then it must become a good environment for children to be born and raised. U.S. census data show that children are a significant presence in cohabitations. As of March 1998, approximately 35 percent of cohabitational households included children under fifteen (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Pamela Smock (2000) observes that an estimated 40 percent of children will live in a cohabitational household sometime during their childhood, which stresses the importance of understanding the effects that cohabitations have on children. Smock identifies two major issues facing these children. First, in general, cohabiting households have fewer economic resources than married households. Second, children in cohabiting households are likely to experience family instability because many cohabitational relationships terminate. Both of these matters have serious implications for the well-being of children who experience parental cohabitation.