Living Together: More Popular, Still Risky

Even though half of all couples live together before marriage, some
Penn State researchers aren't so sure it is a good idea. They found that
cohabitation before the ring is linked to troubled relationships and a
higher rate of divorce.

Claire Kamp, a doctorial candidate in human development at Penn
State, studied the marital happiness of couples from 1964 through 1980.
Just 30 years ago, only one in ten couples lived together before swapping
vows. The small minority who had cohabited first reported less happiness
and more martial conflict than those who waited to move in.

Kamp compared those data to similar studies from 1981 to 1997, when
cohabitation had become more commonplace. Marital bliss did not edge
upward as living together became more widespread. Cohabitators still had
a higher divorce rate and a higher level of discontent in their married
life compared to couples who'd been living separately before tying the
knot.

The researchers note their results question the commonly held
assumption that living together before marrying will help couples decide
if marriage is a good idea for them. They suggest that bad habits formed
during cohabitation may carry on into married life.

In total, 1425 married people were involved in the research. The
study was published in the August issue of the Journal of Marriage and
the Family.