Patterns of Singlehood, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Early Adulthood in Relation to Well-being in Established Adulthood

Abstract

In a cohort followed from late adolescence until established adulthood, this study examined how singlehood, cohabitation, and marriage at different ages are related to well-being at age 34. Participants (N = 585) from three U.S. sites reported their marital and residential status at ages 18, 23, 28, and 34, when they also reported on physical, psychological, and social indicators of well-being. Findings suggest that being married compared to single earlier in adulthood is related to several indicators of better age 34 well-being. Cohabiting participants’ well-being was more similar to the well-being of the single than married participants on most indicators.

Keywords:

• Cohabitation
• early adulthood
• marriage
• singlehood
• well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data can be made available upon reasonable request to the first author.

Additional information

Funding

The Child Development Project has been funded by grants MH56961, MH57024, and MH57095 from the National Institute of Mental Health, HD30572 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and DA016903 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.