Key References Related to Cohabitation

Selected Research on the Topic of Cohabitation
Compiled by Galena Kline
University of Denver

Note: This list is by no means exhaustive. However, this is a short list of key articles that we have found useful or we have cited as we write things related to cohabitation. (In other words, please take it to mean nothing if there is some important resource or article that you do not see here, other than the fact that we simply did not think of including it or haven't gotten to including it yet.)

+ Bennett, N. G., Blanc, A. K., & Bloom, D. E. (1988). Commitment and the modern union: Assessing the link between premarital cohabitation and subsequent marital stability. American Sociological Review, 53(1), 127-138.

Abstract: Analysis of data from the 1981 Women in Sweden survey indicates that women who cohabit premaritally have almost 80% higher marital dissolution rates than those who do not. Women who cohabit for over 3 yrs prior to marriage have over 50% higher dissolution rates than women who cohabit for shorter durations. Cohabitors and noncohabitors whose marriages have remained intact for 8 yrs appear to have identical dissolution rates after that time. Evidence suggesting a weaker commitment to the institution of marriage on the part of those who cohabit premaritally is provided.

+ Cohan, C., & Kleinbaum, S. (2002). Toward a greater understanding of the cohabitation effect: Premarital cohabitation and marital communication. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64, 180-192.

Abstract: Examined the relationship between premarital cohabitation experience and marital communication in an effort to understand the robust finding known as the cohabitation effect, whereby couples who cohabit before marriage have greater marital instability than couples who do not cohabit. Observed marital problem solving and social support behavior were examined as a function of premarital cohabitation experience in a sample of 92 couples in the first 2 yrs of their first marriages. Ss also completed self-report measures of marital satisfaction. Spouses who cohabited before marriage demonstrated more negative and less positive problem solving and support behaviors compared to spouses who did not cohabit. Sociodemographic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal functioning variables did not account for the association between cohabitation experience and marital communication.

+ DeMaris, A., & Rao, V. (1992). Premarital cohabitation and subsequent marital stability in the United States: A reassessment. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 178-190.

Abstract: Studied the relationship between cohabitation and marital dissolution by reexamining data from the National Survey of Families and Households 1987-1988 (J. A. Sweet et al, 1988). For 1,593 male and 1,707 female adults, study covariates included, in addition to 1st marriage dissolution and cohabitation, race (White, Black, Hispanic), father's SES, parents' education, mother working as teenager, unemployment in marriage, having completed high school, premarital pregnancy/birth, marital birth, age at 1st marriage, age, and living with both parents until age 19 yrs. Consistent with most previous research in the US and other countries, the results show that cohabitation in the US is associated with a greater hazard of dissolution, even after counting the time spent in unmarried cohabitation as part of marital duration. The reasons for the differences between these results and those of the 5th followup of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (J. D. Teachman and K. A. Polonko, 1990), are discussed.

+ Hall, D. R., & Zhao, J. Z. (1995). Cohabitation and divorce in Canada: Testing the selectivity hypothesis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 421-427.

Abstract: Examines the relationship between premarital cohabitation and the risk of first marriage dissolution in 8,177 individuals who had ever entered a 1st marriage. Data was collected from a major Canadian survey (1990 General Social Survey). The authors found that premarital cohabitation was associated with a greater risk of divorce even after the effects of 4 sociodemographic factors that differentiate cohabitors: (1)the presence of stepchildren, (2) marital status of first spouse, (3) parental divorce, and (4) age heterogamy were specified in a model of marital dissolution.

+ Kline, G. H., Stanley, S. M., Markman, H. J., Olmos-Gallo, P. A., St. Peters, M., Whitton, S. W., & Prado, L. M. (In Press). Timing in everything: Pre-engagement cohabitation and increased risk for poor marital outcomes. Journal of Family Psychology.

Abstract: Data from a longitudinal study were used to examine differences among couples that cohabited before engagement, after engagement, or not until marriage. Survey data and objectively-coded couple interaction data were collected for 136 couples (272 individuals) after engagement (but prior to marriage) and nine months into marriage. At both time-points, the before-engagement cohabiters (N = 59 couples) had more negative interactions, lower interpersonal commitment, lower relationship quality, and lower relationship confidence than those who did not cohabit until after engagement (N = 28 couples) or marriage (N = 49 couples), even after controlling for selection factors and duration of cohabitation. Our findings suggest that those who cohabit before engagement are at greater risk for poor marital outcomes than those who cohabit only after-engagement or marriage, which may have important implications for future research on cohabitation, clinical work, and social policy decisions.

+ Manning, W. D., & Smock, P. J. (2002). First comes cohabitation and then comes marriage? A research note. Journal of Family Issues, 23(8), 1065-1087.

Abstract: Recent evidence indicates an overall retreat from marriage. Cohabitation has contributed to this trend as cohabiting unions are increasingly not resulting in marriage. As an initial step in understanding why some cohabiting couples do not marry, the authors examine factors associated with cohabitors' marriage expectations. The authors focus particularly on the effects of socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity because prior research has suggested that the retreat from marriage in the United States has been more marked among Blacks than among non-Hispanic Whites or Hispanics and also for those of lower socioeconomic status. Using the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, we find Black cohabiting women have lower odds of expecting marriage. However, for all race and ethnic groups the probability of expecting to marry depends on men's socioeconomic position.

+ Stanley, S. M., Whitton, S. W., & Markman, H. J. (In Press). Maybe I do: Interpersonal commitment levels and premarital or non-marital cohabitation. Journal of Family Issues.

Abstract: Explanations for the risks associated with premarital and non-marital cohabitation (e.g., higher rates of break-up and divorce, lower relationship satisfaction, and greater risk for violent interaction) have focused on levels of conventionality, including attitudes about commitment to the institution of marriage. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of interpersonal, not institutional, commitment. In a national random sample (U.S.), premarital and non-marital cohabitation was associated with lower levels of interpersonal commitment to partners, suggesting links to further understanding of risk in these relationships. Premarital cohabitation was particularly associated with less committed and less religious males. Prior findings associating cohabitation with lower levels of happiness and religiosity, and higher levels of negative interaction (for men), were replicated.

+ Thomson, E., & Colella, U. (1992). Cohabitation and marital stability: Quality or commitment? Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 259-267.

Abstract: Using data from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households, researchers examined the relationship of premarital cohabitation to spouses' perceptions of marital stability. Reports of marital quality, institutional commitment, and marital individualism were obtained from both wife and husband. To distinguish effects of social and economic characteristics from those of social homogamy, researchers assessed age at union, religion, education, ethnicity, and employment (full-, part-time, or no employment of both spouses). It was found that couples who cohabited before marriage reported lower quality marriages, lower commitment to the institution of marriage, more individualistic views of marriage (wives only), and greater likelihood of divorce than couples who did not cohabit. Effects were generally stronger for those who had cohabited for longer periods before marriage. Social and economic characteristics accounted for the higher perceived likelihood of divorce among those who had cohabited less than a year; differences in marital quality and institutional commitment accounted for remaining effects of longer cohabitation, while marital individualism did not have significant effects on perceived likelihood of divorce.

Other Key References Related to Non-marital or Pre-marital Cohabitation

Axinn, W.G., & Barber, J.S. (1997). Living Arrangements and Family Formation Attitudes in Early Adulthood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59, 595-611.

DeMaris, A. & Leslie, G. R. (1984). Cohabitation with future spouse: Its influence upon marital satisfaction and communication. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46, 77-84.

DeMaris, A., & MacDonald, W. (1993). Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Instability: A Test of the Unconventional Hypothesis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55, 399-407.

Forste, R., & Tanfer, K. (1996). Sexual exclusivity among dating, cohabiting, and married women. Journal of Marriage the Family, 58, 33-47.

Gaertner, L., & Foshee, V. (1999). Commitment and the perpetration of relationship violence. Personal Relationships, 6, 227-239.

Johnson, C. A., Stanley, S. M., Glenn, N. D., Amato, P. A., Nock, S. L., Markman, H. J., & Dion, M. R. (2002). Marriage in Oklahoma: 2001 baseline statewide survey on marriage and divorce (S02096 OKDHS). Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

Nock, S. L. (1995). A comparison of marriages and cohabiting relationships. Journal of Family Issues, 16(1), 53-76.

Popenoe, D., & Whitehead, B. (2000). Should we live together? What young adults need to know about cohabitation before marriage. Piscataway, New Jersey: National Marriage Project.

Stanley, S.M., & Markman, H.J.(1997) Marriage in the 90s: A Nationwide Random Phone Survey. Denver, Colorado: PREP, Inc.

Stets, J. E., Straus, M. A. (1989). The marriage license as a hitting license: A comparison of assaults in dating, cohabiting, and married couples. Journal of Family Violence, 4(2), 161-180.

Straus, M. (1979). Measuring intra family conflict and violence: The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 75-88.

Thomson, E. & Colella, U. (1992). Cohabitation and marital stability: Quality or commitment? Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 259-267.

Thornton, A., Axinn, W.G., & Hill, D.H. (1992). Reciprocal effects of religiosity, cohabitation, and marriage. American Journal of Sociology, 98(3), 628 651.

Waite, L. J. (1995). Does marriage matter? Demography, 32, 483-507.

Waite, L., & Gallagher, M. (2000). The case for marriage. New York: Doubleday.

Waite, L. J., & Joyner, K. (In Press). Emotional Satisfaction and Physical Pleasure in Sexual Unions: Time Horizon, Sexual Behavior and Sexual Exclusivity. Journal of Marriage and the Family.

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