Relationship Quality Differs Little For Cohabitors And Marrieds

2-20-97

University Park, Pa. -- Couples living together can experience as strong a relationship as that of married couples if both partners have the critical ingredient of commitment to marry their partner.

"Three out of four people living together plan to marry their partner, and thus their relationships are in general similar to marriage in quality," says Susan L. Brown, doctoral student in sociology and Dr. Alan Booth, professor of sociology and human development, both at Penn State. "In fact, cohabitors report more frequent interaction with their partners than do married people."

Brown and Booth are co-authors of the paper, "Cohabitation Versus Marriage: A Comparison of Relationship Quality," published recently in the Journal of Marriage and the Family.

"The social acceptance of cohabitation is a modern phenomenon," Brown says. "Whereas just 11 percent of marriages were preceded by cohabitation between 1965 and 1974, the percentage of marriages involving at least one cohabiting spouse was 44 percent between 1980 and 1984. By the late 1980s, nearly 50 percent of Americans in their 20s and 30s had cohabited."

For the most part, cohabitation lacks matrimonial quality only when marriage is not planned, Brown and Booth note.

Cohabitors without plans to marry are more likely to have had previously failed unions, which suggests an inability to maintain a sustained relationship. Individuals who live together under these circumstances are more inclined to report arguing, hitting, shouting and an unfair division of labor than either married couples or people living together and planning to marry.

The relationship quality of marrieds and cohabitors with plans to marry is affected in the same way by the presence of potential sources of stress such as children and stepchildren from past partners, Brown adds.

Booth and Brown used data from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households in comparing the relationship qualities of 682 cohabitors and 6,881 marrieds, both White and Black, aged 19 to 48.

***pab***

EDITORS: Dr. Booth can be contacted at (814) 863-1141 (office) and Ms. Brown at (814) 863-0863 (office).

Contact:
Paul Blaum (814) 865-9481 (o) pab15@psu.edu
Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (o) vyf1@psu.edu