Cohabitation And Marriage: Argumentative Analysis

Cohabitation is on the rise today – with more than 8 million unmarried couples cohabiting in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013), it has become a viable alternative to married life for many young people. Elsewhere in Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Denmark, cohabitation and marriage have become indistinguishable with children being born and reared in both. Despite its popularity, there are certain misconceptions and risks which cohabitation entails. Amongst many other reasons, proponents commonly argue that cohabitation aids mate selection, empowers women, helps to avoid the hefty divorce expenses if the relationship does not work out and can even reduce promiscuity. This paper seeks to clarify the aforementioned misunderstandings by explaining how cohabitation is potentially destabilizing for the couples’ relationship, on the institution of marriage and for the society in general.

Before any further discussion, it must be highlighted that

According to Bernard Murstein’s stimulus-value-role theory (2006), cohabitation is a ‘role stage’ where couples develop and experiment with individual roles such as the division of household labour and economic responsibilities. In doing so, they can prepare their expectations of each other and increase their chances of a successful marriage.

However, there are substantial empirical evidence to revoke the view that cohabitation leads to a successful marriage. Cohabitating couples may not eventually marry and even if they do, their divorce rates are much higher than married couples who did not cohabitate before (Popenoe, et al., 2002). After 5 to 7 years, 39% of all cohabiting couples have broken their relationship, 21% are still cohabiting and only 40% have married, although the marriage might not have lasted (Casper, Lynne & Blanchi,