7/15/2009

Living Together First Raises Probability of Divorce

I have real questions about this study and whether it accounts for whether those who lived together first were different, but still the results are interesting.

Couples who shack up before tying the knot are more likely to get divorced than their counterparts who don't move in together until marriage, a new study suggests.

Upwards of 70 percent of U.S. couples are cohabiting these days before marrying, the researchers estimate.

The study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, indicates that such move-ins might not be wise.

And it's not because you start to get on one another's nerves. Rather, the researchers figure the shared abode could lead to marriage for all the wrong reasons.

"We think that some couples who move in together without a clear commitment to marriage may wind up sliding into marriage partly because they are already cohabiting," said lead researcher Galena Rhoades of the University of Denver. . . . .

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3 Comments:

Blogger Weer'd Beard said...

I moved in with the Mrs. about a year before we tied the knot so I looked at this issue.

I've seen many people go into mairrage simply because it was easier then breaking up because the latter required finding a new place to live and divving up furniture and monitary assests et al.

Essentially if you cohabitate before mairrage a break-up essentially requires much of the work of divorce just without any of the legally binding bits.

7/15/2009 9:27 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It could be possible that those that don't move in together before they get married are not as religiously minded as those that marry and then move in together. Those that feel marriage is a stronger bond due to religion or other reasons may be less likely to consider divorce.

7/15/2009 3:38 PM  
Blogger Chas said...

Living together precludes the possibility of divorce. With marriage, divorce becomes the most likely outcome of the relationship.

7/16/2009 3:21 PM  

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