Cohabitation Before Being Married

Superior Essays
In today’s society, the sacredness of marriage is not at all respected, as much as it used to be. With a divorce rate of over 50%, couples are deciding to live together before getting married, thinking it is safer and easier. However, cohabitation before marriage does create problems for couples as well as children.
Why Do People Consider Cohabitating?
Cohabitation means to live together in a romantic relationship without being married. There are many reasons people would choose to cohabitate. Some people don 't want to get married but still want a long-term relationship and live with the person they love. Some reasons are economical and other people simply want someone to live with to reduce living expenses, like college students sharing an apartment.
…show more content…
In a marriage there should be a checks and balance system so that both partners know where the money is going and that they are on track to reach their financial goals. Couples who cohabitate are not committed to putting their money together because majority of the time they are not looking for a long term relationship. Nevertheless, “empirical studies by social psychologists have consistently found that married people report higher levels of personal happiness than unmarried people”. Married couples associate more with the community, normally have better relationships with their in-laws and enjoy the benefits of a church family who help in times of need (Larson, 2001, p. 7). When two people decide to get married and make a commitment to each other, they usually take that commitment serious. Married couples are not worrying about their partners cheating on them and they are committed to giving their bodies to one another. Since married couples want to keep their sex life fresh, they tend to get creative and have fun with it. These facts alone enhance sex more for married couples than those who are

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The New Mating Market, we see divorce as a major killer in every aspect of life; finances are affected, children are emotionally torn, social lives are left on the fence, and family members are in limbo. Porter informs the audience “Marriage is also a form of insurance. Families with two sources of income are more financially secure than one and are thus more willing to take financial risks”(268). Aside from the lovely…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    According to the article, “Will Your Marriage Last?” by Brooke Lea Foster, there are many factors that come into play when it comes to having a happy, successful marriage and avoiding divorce. On the other hand, Foster states that there are more factors that may distress a marriage thus leading to divorce rather than maintaining a happy marriage. Some factors that lead to divorce are interracial marrying, moving in prior to marrying, and having a child (Foster 107). I can agree with Foster that it is surprising to find out that moving in with your partner prior to marriage would lead to feeling like they are forced into a life long commitment rather than choosing to be in one. I find this to be extremely surprising considering that living together before marrying would be beneficial in seeing whether the partnership would work out.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marriage-Farris Stephanie Coontz wrote a bold statement “The notion that marriage is an impediment to commitments to the larger community. This sentence extracted from her essay the “Five Myths About Marriage. In her essay Coontz, does make a plausible case that some divorced families do enjoy a wholesome existence. Although, marriage is more than a liability. Moreover, marriage is the combination of two very different perspectives; one female and one male perspective which empowers and strengthens the union of family through modeling.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ron L. Deal also writes in this book that cohabitation increases the chances of divorce. A study by Brown, Sanchez, Nock and Wright (2006) indicates that it has no effects on marital quality. They stretched out former exploration on the relationship between premarital cohabitation and marital results by researching whether contract marriage, which involves more stringent necessities for separation, minimizes the harmful impacts of cohabitation on consequent marital quality and soundness. Utilizing a one of a kind longitudinal information set of agreement and standard love bird couples in Louisiana, they found that pledge marriage does not change the impacts of premarital cohabitation on marital precariousness, joy, reliance, or separation for…

    • 162 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although we finding ourselve a certain timeline where we would not wanted to be tight to a title of married but doesn’t mean we are not thinking of having a family. For example, I grew up in a tradtional asian family, marriage is very important before you live with someone. Although its changes through time. As I raised here majortiy of my life, my parent even think that living with your partner before marriage is a great step before you are legally tight a knot together. As my personal experience when i first date someone and move out, I start to know my partner personality more closer, and discovered flaws that I never known of if we didn’t lived together.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    David Popenoe

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages

    David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead’s article “The State of our Unions” discusses data on marriage and divorce. It suggests that there is a cultural shift happening in America by using this information for support. In the data driven article, Popenoe and Whitehead claim that marriage rates are declining and, despite divorce rates being quite high, they are also on a steady decline. Alternatively, more people are participating in unmarried cohabitation before and in place of marriage.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Maggie Gallagher's essay why marriage is good for you strategically promotes the lack of independence. She states the benefits of joining someone in matrimony. If one were to marry, both partners will gain financial, psychological, and health benefits as opposed to someone who remains single. Single individuals have been recorded living shorter, less profitable, less psychologically stable lives. Married couples also show signs of taming if not focusing their libido towards their partner which essentially leads to if not “more” procreation as opposed to single individuals who are apparently more likely to have unfaithful relationships with others.…

    • 144 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Suffocation Model Essay

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the article “The Suffocation Model: Why Marriage in America is becoming an All-or-Nothing Institution”, authors Eli J. Finkel, Elaine O. Cheung, Lydia F. Emery, Kathleen L. Carswell, and Grace M. Larson, discuss how the purpose of marriage has dramatically changed from originally being for the basic needs of survival to needing marriage for self-esteem and intimacy. They have concluded that marriage has followed the Suffocate Model, and this model has two possible outcomes one negative and one positive. Positive being if the marriage in present day is satisfying than the marriage will prove to be more fulfilling than a marriage in the 19th century or early 20th century. The negative consequence is that with the higher expectation for marriage…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The era of the 1950s, was an iconic era in american history. The american dream of freedom, self empowerment, and success was growing. After WW2, the soldiers returned and the generation of baby boomers began. The baby Boomer generation was born between mid 1950 's to mid 1960s, this was also the time where the Happy Homemakers were born. Women who stayed home and looked after the children while her husband provided.…

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Therefore, I think the argument presented by the author is unsuccessful and has really drawn the readers into false dilemmas, i.e. consider the author's assertion that, "…that there are merely two alternatives to consider when there are essentially more than two"2, in this case, several other reasons (Esteve, Albert & Ron 280). Several couples are having similar sex relationships and are not permitted to get married in most states in the United States of America3. Consequently, some partners cannot afford the financial obligations that come with marriage while others have personal reasons concerning having been opted just to remain cohabiting and not getting married (Vaughn 484). However, the authors state merely three reasons why couples choose to engage in trial marriage through cohabitation thus opting to delay in getting married, i.e., due to abundant lust in the society, observing several marriages getting broken make it seem precarious to some people and finally, due to lost confidence in precisely judging durable marriages. Notably, I consider that the author has left out several reasons or possibilities that usually make couples to cohabitate without getting…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Balswick Statement

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I agree with Balswick & Balswick statement, “The high rate of divorce in most Western cultures supports the notion that it is difficult to establish a strong marriage in a postmodern society.” (Balswick & Balswick, 2014, p. 79) In today’s society the stability of marriage is not grounded without a biblical aspect of keeping Christ at center. Marriages should be man and women becoming one, in the aspect of unity being established by vows of promises and not build on rules and conditions. With rules and conditions it creates a positon for self-worth and greediness to enter the unity of a marriage.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    4. Explain how cohabitation could create legal problems for couples: residence, money, property, insurance, health care, decision-making, and children. (8 points) Cohabitating can be both beneficial and disadvantageous. Some couples may believe that cohabitation is a good way to test the waters before marriage.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Therefore, it can be interpreted that in most cases, cohabitation is a trial process for marriage and it is clear that from 70 years ago till today, marriage is still the most popular norm. However, marriage is not the most certain and final step in starting a family. Instabilities like divorce have been bringing down the number of married couples drastically over the years; thereby changing family structures in the British society. Trends like cohabitation as opposed to marriage have led to an extension in the definition of family. These phenomena with their social, political and economic causes and effects have challenged Giddens’ definition and concept of a traditional family.…

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sociology Of Family Essay

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Marriage is suggested to be the most stable and secure environment for families to function normally. Marriage is not the only living arrangement for people. It is being more popular for adults to live alone, single parents, and unmarried partners. There are also multigenerational households where more than one generation lives together. There are people who delay marriage.…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Possible Causes Of Divorce

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Lack of sex can be an immense factor in divorce and 22 percent of men cited sex as the reason for the divorce according to www.divorce360.com. Intercourse is normally an act that brings a couple together and it builds their relationship, and creates this bond that almost seems unbreakable. A couple who doesn’t practice intercourse regularly can open up doors for a whole lot of additional problems. Sex is a vigorous way to strengthen a relationship, but can also be harmful when that is all the relationship revolves around. When couples lack quality sex in their relationship, they neglect to build that bond and divorce inevitably follows.…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays