ABSTRACT
The rapid and pervasive rise in cohabitation, defined here as living with a nonmarital romantic partner, is the most substantial and influential change in contemporary dating relationships. Rates of cohabitation prior to marriage have increased from about 10 percent in the 1970s to almost 60 percent of unions formed in the mid 1990s (Bumpass & Lu, 2000). Moreover, only 12 percent of women marry in their early 20s without a prior cohabitation or nonmarital birth (Schoen, Landale, & Daniels, 2007). Accompanying the dramatic increase in cohabitation has been a societal shift in the
acceptance of cohabitation while dating. Most American young adults now view nonmarital cohabitation as acceptable (Axinn & Thornton, 2000). In fact, studies have shown that a majority of high-school seniors supported cohabitation prior to marriage (Thornton & Young-DeMarco, 2001) and that 57 percent of teens who expect to marry also plan to cohabit prior to marriage (Manning, Longmore, & Giordano, 2007). Approximately 66 percent of teenagers in one study thought that it was fine for partners to live together without being married (Flanigan, Huffman, & Smith, 2005). Taken together, current behavioral trends and perceptions in the U.S.A. suggest that cohabitation has unmistakably altered dating, marriage, and family formation and become a normative part of dating. Given the prevalence and increased acceptance of cohabitation while dating, incorporat-
ing cohabitation into research on romantic and family relationships is crucial to understanding relationship development. The experience of cohabiting may influence the extent to which couples are able to build satisfying relationships, the trajectory of the relationship, and the outcomes associated with the relationship. To date, the majority of the research on cohabitation has been conducted by scholars in sociology, demography, and human development. The knowledge generated by this research has focused on descriptive findings about cohabitation patterns, trends, and differentials by subpopulations, such as ethnicity or social class. This information provides an important foundation for understanding cohabitation, but it leaves a gap in understanding how the experience of cohabitation influences relationship development. As Sassler (2004) stated, the absence of more extensive research on the cohabitation process “precludes the development of relationship models that might better predict union outcomes and relationship stability” (p. 502).
