Couples Who Live Together Split Faster: Report
Wed Jul 24, 5:50 PM ET
By Keith Mulvihill

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New study findings show that marriage is indeed a tie that binds--or at least binds a bit tighter than cohabitation without matrimony.

Couples who live together without marriage are twice as likely to split up 5 years after they move in together than couples who tie the knot, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

And similar to past research, the survey found that couples who lived together before marriage were also more likely to split than those who waited until after they got hitched.

The report is based on a 1995 survey of nearly 11,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Lead author Dr. Matthew D. Bramlett of the NCHS in Hyattsville, Maryland and his team hoped to learn more about cohabitation and marriage and the factors that influence the success or failure of these types of relationships.

"Marriages tend to last longer than cohabitations," he told Reuters Health. Roughly 5 years after women got married, only 20% had left their husbands, versus 49% of women who were living with someone.

"We don't have any underlying reasons to explain the findings," said Bramlett, who noted that the group solely tried to describe as many different characteristics associated with outcomes to marriage and cohabitation "to encourage further research."

The report, "Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the United States," is posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web site.

In other findings, the researchers learned that women whose parents split when they were young were much more likely to follow in their footsteps.

Ten years after being married, 43% of women from broken homes reported having left the marriage versus 29% of women raised in intact families.

"The same trend held true for a woman's second marriage," with 49% of women from broken homes separated or divorced compared with 33% of women whose parents stayed married, Bramlett told Reuters Health.

"We need to find a way to break the cycle of family instability," Bramlett said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=571&ncid=751&e=1&u=/nm/20020724/hl_nm/relationships_marriage_dc_1

I've read about this before. I tend to agree with it. What are your experiences with this issue?

we don't have any underlying reasons to explain the findings, other than if people decide to live together and then problems arise, they don't feel the need to be miserable and stuck in a relationship because of a ring on their finger or the fact they lose half their assets by splitting up, or dealing with a divorce, they can simply break off the relationship and leave!

See, I've heard studies that prove the exact opposite. Research seems to be largely inconclusive in this arena.

I think successful cohabitational relationships probably have less to do with marital status than with the individuals involved.

i have heard that if ya lived together... but married w/in a short period of time it didnt count, in this fact. The factor being, the intent to marry, or the intent to just live together.
(i've heard this fact before)

part of it is, well if you wanted to get married then just get married... almost like you are subconsciously telling yourself not to do it cuz for some reason it isnt right.
then ya live together, and maybe pressure yourself into the marriage, and then come to realize that it wasnt right.

Ya GOTTA go with your gut.

I would live with someone before marriage... but i would be a one year time limit on it. It would have to be with the intent to marry, and if something towards marriage wasnt happening w/in a year, then I'd probably move out. ;)

This is one of the many reasons why I probably wouldn't live with someone before marriage. (That and my parents aren't "traditional" but it really isn't part of Indian culture to live with people before marriage.

Further though, I think the issues are like what Jenn said.

Sometimes people live toghether but have no intent on getting married or KNOW they don't want to marry that person. If thats the case, then of course the relationship will most likely end.

Another fact to think of is that it is harder to make the move towards divorce (financially, socially, etc) than it is to just breakup and move out. Especially if there are children involved.

If I've been married for a few years, have a kid, and things get really bumpy, im not going to just check out of the relationship then. But if I've just been living with someone for a few years and things get really bumpy, then it is a judgement call I'd perhaps make.

Originally posted by Allegra
I think successful cohabitational relationships probably have less to do with marital status than with the individuals involved.
Yes and no.

It all depends on the emotional levels of the people involved. My supervisor and his partner have lived together for 25 years. This fact alone flies in the face of this article. Both are professional and intellectual people, but now they are both wishing they could have the title of "Man and Wife".

I think their reasons are motivated, not by financial issues, but by the fact that their cohabitation has worked for this long and marriage would be their next logical step.

Red, you sort of reiterated what I said! ;)

The success of their relationship is based on what they put into it themselves -- not whether or not they were married. The fact that they are now wishing they were married has nothing to do with whether they'll end up staying together.

More power to them. But why are they sitting around wishing they had a marriage license? Why don't they stop whining and just do it?