Most unmarried couples who live together aren't trying to test their relationship. They just want to spend more time together.

That finding, from a new national study of dating and cohabitation, seemingly contradicts the popular wisdom of cohabitation as a trial marriage. It's among early results from the study, scheduled to continue for years, and it gives researchers new insight into the burgeoning number of couples who cohabit.

Cohabitation has increased so rapidly that the data about it haven't kept pace with the growing numbers, researchers say. The latest U.S. Census for 2008 reported 13.6 million unmarried, heterosexual couples living together. Researchers say 50% to 60% of couples who marry today lived together first; some note that 70% of young adults will cohabit. Most couples who live together either marry or break up within two years. ...

Other research by Stanley and Rhoades, along with the center's co-director, Howard Markman, published this year reinforces previous findings about cohabitation and is similar to the new Denver study. A survey of 1,050 people who were married less than 10 years published in the Journal of Family Psychology suggests cohabiting before engagement is associated with lower marital satisfaction. A study of 120 cohabiting couples in the Journal of Family Issues also found unmarried partners cohabit to spend more time together, not to test the relationship.

Labels: cohabitation, Marriage

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