Summerizing News


From "USA TODAY" http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnists/lovemarriage/love4.htm


Original one: July. 28, 2000

Cohabitation: The marriage enemy
Hollywood stars are doing it. Most American young people are doing it. Even some politicians now do it. When blushing brides and dashing grooms walk down the aisle today, more than half have already lived together. Cohabitation is replacing marriage as the first living-together experience for young men and women.
For today's young adults, the first generation to come of age during the divorce revolution, living together seems like a good way to achieve some of the benefits of marriage without the risk of divorce. Couples who live together can share expenses and learn more about each other. They can find out whether their partner has what it takes to be married. If things don't work out, breaking up is easy to do. Cohabiting couples do not have to seek legal or religious permission to dissolve their union.
Not surprisingly, young adults strongly favor cohabitation. But a careful review of the available social science evidence suggests that living together is not a good way to prepare for marriage or to avoid divorce. What's more, it shows that the rise in cohabitation is not a positive family trend. Cohabiting unions tend to weaken the institution of marriage and pose clear dangers for women and children.
Specifically, the research indicates that:

1) Living together before marriage increases the risk of divorce. One study found an increased risk of 46%.
2) Living together outside marriage increases the risk of domestic violence for women and the risk of physical and sexual abuse for children. One study found that the risk of domestic violence for women in cohabiting relationships was double that in married relationships; the risk is even greater for child abuse.
3) Unmarried couples have lower levels of happiness and well-being than married couples
We recognize the larger social and cultural trends that make cohabiting relationships attractive to many young adults today. Unmarried cohabitation is not likely to go away. Given this reality, we offer four principles consistent with the available evidence that may help guide the thinking of pre-married on the question "Should we live together?"

1) Consider not living together at all before marriage. There is no evidence that if you decide to cohabit before marriage you will have a stronger marriage than those who don't live together, and there is some evidence to suggest that if you live together before marriage, you are more likely to divorce.
2) Don't make a habit of cohabiting. Multiple cohabiting is a strong predictor of the failure of future relationships.
3) Limit cohabitation to the shortest possible period of time. The longer you live together with a partner, the more likely it is that the low-commitment ethic of cohabitation will take hold, the opposite of what is required for a successful marriage.
4) Do not cohabit if children are involved. Children need and should have parents who are committed to staying together.
By all the empirical evidence at our disposal, the practice of cohabitation, far from being a friend of marriage, looks more and more like its enemy. Yet marriage remains a cornerstone of a successful society. In place of more cohabitation, we should be trying harder to revitalize marriage. Particularly helpful in this regard would be educating young people about marriage from the early school years onward, teaching them how to make the wisest choices in their lifetime mates and stressing the importance of long-term marital commitment.



A summary:

  Cohabitation is nothing new in these days. Among young couples, it is preferred as a test before marriage. It is believed that cohabitation is of benefit to know each other enough to decide to live together or break up, which is simple and easy. So, it is expected to reduce divorce rate. However, according to social science evidence, neither has it contributed to decreasing the divorce rate, nor is it good for a family.
  The research shows that cohabitation actually increases the risk of divorce, and brings out domestic violence which is dangerous for women and children. Moreover, in practice, cohabitating couples are not satisfied with their relationships, comparing to married couples.
  Cohabitation could be current trends that young people just follow with no consideration. Before cohabitating, you should consider not living together at all as well. Also, you must not make it a rule to cohabit, and should make the cohabitating period time as short as possible. Lastly, if children are involved, try not to cohabit.
  In conclusion, marriage is the base to keep successful society. Even though cohabitation is considered a pre-stage before marriage, it turns out to be an obstacle in the way of marriage. Young people need to be educated to make the best choices for their long term marital relationship.