The number of opposite-sex couples who live together has jumped from less than one million 30 years ago to 6.4 million in 2007, according to new federal data. Cohabiting couples now make up almost 10-percent of all opposite-sex U.S. couples, married and unmarried. The same data also found that 48.5-percent of cohabiting couples had never been married, while 28-percent had both been married previously.
A recent poll also indicates the trend toward more acceptance of cohabitation prior to marriage. Nearly half of American adults in a recent USA Today/Gallup poll believe that cohabitation can be good for marriage. Forty-nine percent (49%) said that it would make divorce less likely. Social science tracking cohabitation has found the opposite to be true.
“Cohabiting couples are more likely to divorce,” said MFF Executive Director Brad Snavely. “They are also more likely to be a victim of domestic abuse and their children face significantly greater challenges than kids raised in a married household.”
Michigan Family Forum has worked collaboratively with other organizations as part of the Michigan Healthy Marriage Coalition to encourage couples to “test their compatibility” without living together first. The P.I.C.K.-a-Partner program, offered in southeastern Michigan in 2007 and 2008, is based on sound research and helps couples find ways to discover and work through areas where they differ before they tie the knot.
To learn more about the problems of cohabitation, go here.
The State of America's Family 