Trends in Cohabitation

In class we had a great discussion on different trends in the world today such as people delaying marriage, low birthrates, high unwed birthrates, moms in the workforce, pre-marital sex, and cohabitation. The one that caught my attention the most was cohabitation, because the numbers were extremely high and there has been a lot of research done on cohabitation. And it has been proved to lead to unhealthy relationships and more divorces in future marriages. On Family Profiles I was able to find percentages of cohabitation in recent years. The percentage of women ages 19-44 who have ever cohabited has increased by 75% over the past 20 years. In 1987, one-third of women had ever cohabited, and in 2006-2008, over half (58%) had ever cohabited. And increase in cohabitation exists in every age group. The greatest increase (163%) in cohabitation occurred among women ages 40-44. Over the last two decades, there has been a 40% increase in cohabitation among women ages 19-24. Cohabitation has become a way of things, but not necessarily a happy way. In the past it was believed that cohabitation was the right way to do things, and that it was a sort of testing to see if they could live with their future marriage partner. But that belief has been research a lot, and proved to be wrong. Coupes who cohabit before marriage tend to be less satisfied with their marriages and more likely to divorce, than couples who do not.
A quote from The New York Times on cohabitation says, "Moving from dating to sleeping over to sleeping over a lot to cohabitation can be a gradual slope, one not marked by rings or ceremonies. Couples bypass talking about why they want to live together and what it will mean. When researched ask cohabitants these questions, partners often have different, unspoken, and even unconscious agendas. Women are more likely to view cohabitation as a step toward marriage, while men are more likely to see it as a way to test a relationship or postpone commitment, and this gender asymmetry is associated with negative interactions and lower levels of commitment even after the relationship progresses to marriage. One thing men and women do agree on, however, is that their standards for a live-in partner are lower than they are for a spouse. It is not surprising that cohabiting is a trend toward misery."
The advice here would be, do not live with someone who you are not married to.

Here is a really great talk on marriage and how truly wonderful it can be if the marriage is shaped by eternal principles!  :)
http://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/08/happiness-health-and-marriage?lang=eng