ABSTRACT
As cohabitation becomes increasingly prevalent, social scientists are struggling to understand its meaning and role in American family life. Current estimates indicate that there are about 4.9 million cohabiting households and that 56% of first unions are preceded by cohabitation (Bumpass & Lu, 2000; Casper & Cohen, 2000). Smock and Gupta (chap. 4, in this volume) provide an interesting and timely review on the nature, frequency, and implications of cohabitation for family structure and marriage in the United States and Canada. They argue that the central debate about the significance of cohabitation is whether it is a threat to legal marriage. Overall, they conclude that “cohabitation is posing an increasingly potent challenge to marriage as a form of coresidential, conjugal union” (p. 74).
