ABSTRACT
The prevalence of cohabitation has risen dramatically in recent decades, with demographers and other social scientists eager to understand the meaning, precursors, and impacts of this family form. In their comprehensive chapter on demographic trends in cohabitation in North America, Smock and Gupta (chap. 4, this volume) review the changing patterns of family formation, and discuss the primary factors that have been proposed as correlates or predictors of cohabitation, marriage, and nonmarital childbearing, such as social class, religion, egalitarianism, and liberalism. Smock and Gupta also review patterns of cohabitation among various racial/ethnic groups, which indicate substantially higher rates of cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing (both within and outside of cohabiting unions) among African Americans and Hispanics than among non-Hispanic Whites in the United States. Like others, Smock and Gupta attribute these racial/ethnic differences primarily to income and wealth differentials. They also note that “culture,” that is the “set of beliefs, values, and behavior patterns that characterize a group” (p. 63) likely impacts both the role and meaning of cohabitation in different subgroups.
