This article discusses about the various trends in cohabitation, marriage and divorce in present world. According to a report published in USA today, rate of divorce in USA is declining day by day. Changes in marriage system and relationships are happening all around the world because of the change in the work style, social and economical condition.
Trends in Cohabitation, Marriage, and Divorce
Sexual unions and relationships in western world is undergoing a tremendous change. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study was conducted to get an overview of these relationships in United States. Before it was easy to define a men-women relationship as traditionally they fell in love, then living together or marriage later had children. However, CDC study reveals the status of formal and informal marital status and their stability. The study was mainly conducted among men and women in United States aged between 15 and 44. The report also discloses the big and small variations in cohabiting and marital relationships and the duration of each relationship depending upon the family background, education, Hispanic origin and race.
According to a report published in USA today (see resource), rate of divorce in USA is declining day by day. This also means that percentage of people living together is increasing day by day and are lasting more than marriages. According to CDS report, 78% of marriages in the United States last more than 5 years. But, while considering the status of cohabitation relationships, they are seemed to be shorter lived than marriages. In almost all cases within 3 years most of these relationships fail or transitioned to marriage. However, traditional families in United States still stick on the idea of marriages.
There are several different reasons that are associated with longer-lasting marriages. Love and attachment are the prime resource that is associated with longer lasting marriages. Some relationships give more importance to trust and some others for understanding. However, problems in a family life happen when there is a missing of understanding. Financial condition of the family also affects the balance of a relationship. An individual strategically approach will mostly solve almost all issues associated with family relationship.
The idea of family life has changed in the recent years. New generation consider marriage as responsibility and they prefer to live together or cohabiting. According to CDC report, most cohabitation relationship goes up to 3 years later they separate or get married. Here we can assume to thing, young people are not at all interested in a marriage relationship. They prefer to live together for a significant duration of time and then decide if they want to marry or not. Main similarity between cohabitation and marriages is that they use the same bed. Difference between cohabitation and marriages is mostly about the responsibility they together take to keep a relationship.
Most people after a divorce prefer to keep a cohabitation relationship. The duration of a cohabitation relationship is mostly 3-4 years. This means that they will either end the relationship or will get marry with the partner. However, a minority prefer to keep a living together relationship for the rest of the life. Most of these things happen depending upon the social and economical condition of the person. There is not a direct relationship between ethnicity and family life. What actually matters is the social and economical condition of the person.
Changes in marriage system and relationships are happening all around the world. In United Kingdom, the rate of marriage, divorce and cohabitation seems to keep the international standard. This is happening because of the change in the work style, social and economical condition. While comparing and contrasting the international rates with United States, we will come to a conclusion that US is not a stand alone country. Even in more conservative eastern countries, rapid changes are happening both in sexual unions and relationships.
References:
1. Niolon R. (2002). Cohabitation, marriage and divorce. 2002. Retrieved from web.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-18-cohabit-divorce_x.htm
2. Jayson S. (2005). Divorce declining, but so is marriage. 18July, 2005. Retrieved from web. http://www.psychpage.com/family/mod_couples_thx/cdc.html
