What Role Does Cohabitation Serve? The Heterogeneity of Relationship Progression among Cohabiting Couples

• In Event: 2452 - New Insights and Trends in Relationship Formation

Abstract

Cohabitation has increased dramatically over the past few decades. Scholars frequently ask what role cohabitation plays in the constellation of marriage and family building activities. Many believe that living together is a good way to test out a relationship to determine its marriage worthiness. Over the past few decades, cohabitation’s role may have changed. The majority of recent marriages were preceded by cohabitation, but the majority of cohabiting unions no longer result in marriage. This paper challenges the notion that cohabitation initially serves as a precursor to marriage. We explore how cohabitors describe their transition into shared living, to determine whether cohabitation initially serves as a precursor to marriage, an alternative to being single, or an alternative to marriage. We then explore how the role of cohabitation changes over time. Data are from in-depth interviews with a class-diverse sample of 61 cohabiting couples (n = 122 individuals) from the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area, who were interviewed between 2004 and 2006. For the vast majority of cohabitors, living together initially serves as an alternative to being single, rather than a precursor for marriage. Relatively few have discussed future plans, and very few are engaged before they enter into their shared living arrangement. But for many couples, the role cohabitation serves changes over the life course of their relationship. For a sizable minority cohabitation does become a precursor to marriage. For more couples, however, it remains an alternative to singlehood, and for others it leads back to singlehood. Very few cohabiting couples in our sample utilize cohabitation as an alternative to marriage, though several – even those who get engaged – join that category over time. Results are interpreted in light of changing family behaviors and the salience and strength of marriage.

Authors

• Sharon L. Sassler, Cornell University

• Mary Beth Morrissey, Cornell University

• Amanda Jayne Miller, University of Indianapolis