Cohabitation is an arrangement that involves two people, who are in a romantic relationship, living together as a couple without being formally married. Current trends show that cohabiting is becoming either a type of family system or a pathway to forming a traditional family through marriage. According to Finer and Philbin (2014), there has been a “growing delay of first marriage, which has been offset by increasing levels and duration of nonmarital cohabitation” (p. e272). Smock (2000, p. 3) states that the occurrence of marriages preceded by cohabitation between 1965 and 1974 was only 10%, whereas the occurrence of marriages preceded by cohabitation between 1990 and 1994 increased to 50%. However, it is not completely clear why those trends occur because there are several possible explanations of the increasing popularity of cohabitation and the length of cohabitation before marriage, and those explanations include both macro- and micro-level factors.
Some macro-level factors mentioned include industrialization, individualism, and secularism (Smock, 2000, p. 5). Industrialization increased the probability of cohabitation because it introduced contributed to the introduction of women to the workforce and brought existing, traditional gender roles into question. The increasing trend of individualism, which emphasizes the importance of achieving personal goals over conforming to group needs, could explain why the tradition of marriage diminished. The increase of secularism could explain why the influence of religion in decision-making has diminished during the 20th century. Therefore, the increasing secularism most likely contributed to the reduction of the stigma surrounding premarital sex, which in turn resulted in the elimination of cohabitation disapproval, so unmarried couples were no longer restricted by fear of judgment when arranging their lives together.
Several micro-level factors could explain why cohabitation is increasing. First, studies showed that cohabiting couples “were substantially more gender-egalitarian than their married counterparts” and that “cohabitors profess somewhat more liberal gender-role attitudes than do married people” (Smock, 2000, p. 14). Therefore, personal attitudes about gender roles and gender equality are a significant factor that could explain the increasing prevalence of cohabiting living arrangements among couples.
Second, demographic factors appear to be related to cohabiting as well. Low socioeconomic status is a good predictor of cohabiting as “the median income of cohabiting parent households is about 50 percent lower than that of married parent households” (Manning, 2014, p. 54). Although cohabiting mothers usually have a lower level of education than married mothers, their levels of education are moderated by age, so the main demographic difference between cohabiting and married couples is their socioeconomic status (Manning, 2014, p. 54).
It is important to consider that cohabiting is not just a trend involving adults. According to Manning (2014, p. 53), the prevalence of cohabiting arrangements that include children increased from 20% in the early 1980s to 40% in the early 2000s. However, there seem to be no negative effects of cohabiting on children. Current research reports that traditional married couples and cohabiting couples are “similar in many ways, including the quality of their relationships at the time of their child’s birth, levels of engagement and caregiving” (Manning, 2014, p. 55).
The choice of cohabitation over marriage can have multiple explanations, which include macro- and micro-level factors. Although children from those family systems may be at a disadvantage compared to children from married couples, the quality of parenting depends on the style and skills of parents rather than their family system. Children from both types of households receive similar levels of affection and care. Cohabitation may not be consistent with marriages that are defined by social and religious traditions, but considering the fact that cohabiting was not associated with the negative effects on the development and well-being of children, it is possible to suggest that it is not a detrimental trend for society.
References
Finer, L. B., & Philbin, J. M. (2014). Trends in ages at key reproductive transitions in the United States, 1951–2010. Women's Health Issues, 24(3), e271-e279.
Manning, W. D. (2014). Cohabitation and child wellbeing. The Future of children/Center for the Future of Children, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 25(2), 51-661.
Smock, P. J. (2000). Cohabitation in the United States: An appraisal of research themes, findings, and implications. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 1-20.
