California Bill Would Disincentivize Marriage - Page 2
Contrary to what many people think, "living together" before marriage actually decreases a couple's chances of staying together if they marry. Respected cultural scholar and UCLA Professor Emeritus James Q. Wilson explains, "But cohabitation is a two-way street. It may attract people with certain views, but it also changes the view of people who do cohabit. Living together without getting married makes people more willing to accept divorce. As two scholars put it, 'cohabitation may change the way individuals view marriage and divorce' by, for example, persuading them that 'intimate relationships are fragile and temporary in today's world'" (James Q. Wilson, "Why Not Just Live Together?," American Experiment Quarterly, Summer 2001).
"Is cohabiting a good way to prepare for marriage?" asked researchers David Olson and Amy Olson-Sigg. "Generally not. The social science evidence suggests that living together is not a good way to prepare for marriage or to avoid divorce. In fact, virtually all the major studies have shown a higher divorce rate among couples that cohabited before marriage than those who did not. No positive contribution of cohabitation to a successful marriage has been found to date." (Olson and Olson-Sigg, "Overview of Cohabitation Research," 2006,
www.prepare-enrich.com/research.html).
What The Evidence Says: Cohabitation versus MarriageShort-lived relationships: About half of cohabitating couples either marry or break up after two years of cohabitation (Sheela Kennedy and Larry Bumpass, "Cohabitation and Children's Living Arrangements: New Estimates from the United States," 2007, Center for Demography, University of Wisconsin). One half of all cohabitating unions end within a year and 90 percent within five years. "The common view of cohabitation as a steppingstone to marriage needs to be serious questioned," said Daniel Lichter, professor of policy analysis and management and director of the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center at Cornell. "Instead, serial cohabitation may be an emerging norm as cohabitating unions form and break up" (UPI, "Study: Cohabiting not prelude to marriage," July 10, 2006). "Cohabitors and married people who cohabited before marriage have higher risks of union dissolution than people who married without prior cohabitation ("Unmarried Cohabitation and Union Stability," Demography, 2006, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 203-221). In contrast, 57.7 percent of married relationships last 20 years or longer (U.S. Census, "Number, Timing, and Duration of Marriages and Divorces: 1996," February 2002).
Less safety: Cohabitating couples experience physical aggression in their relationships at rates three times higher than those reported by married couples. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, "unmarried, cohabiting couples have higher rates of intimate partner violence than do married couples" (DOJ, "Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence," July 2000).
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