The Cohabitation Effect on Divorce

Abstract

The rate of cohabitation in the United States continues to increase. Some research suggests that cohabitation leads to, or causes, relationship instability, as it is well established that people who cohabit prior to marriage are more likely to divorce. Alternative research implicates selection rather than causal effects of cohabitation because background characteristics of cohabitors explain much of the relationship between cohabitation and divorce. The current prospective study tests the selection hypothesis using data from the 1979-1998 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Cohabitation accounted for little variance in divorce rates after controlling for the cultural factors of ethnicity and religion and the personal attribute of delinquency. The impact of delinquency, ethnicity, and religiosity are discussed in the context of acquiring a greater understanding of risk factors of divorce.

Key Words:

• Divorce
• cohabitation