Measuring Cohabitation: Does How, When, and Who You Ask Matter?

In response to the dramatic increase in cohabitation during the 1980s and 1990s and the growing interest in this new family form, researchers have increasingly included measures of cohabitation in large-scale surveys. Although many national surveys now contain questions designed to identify cohabitors, they differ in their wording and format of the questions. Not only do these differences affect estimates of the prevalence of cohabitation (Casper & Cohen, 2000), they also likely shape our understanding of correlates and outcomes (Knab, 2005).