Study: Pre-Marriage Cohabitation No Longer Strong Precursor To Divorce
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new study of cohabitation before marriage indicates a change in the times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 60 percent of couples today live together before marriage, compared with just 10 percent in the 1960s.
And back then, couples who lived together before marriage were more likely to get divorced later on.
Now, however, it's seen as more the norm. According to the CDC's research over four years, living together before marriage is not as big of a predictor of divorce as it once was.
"You find out if you can actually tolerate them for the rest of your life," one woman in center city Philadelphia notes.
The government study examined trends in first marriages. They found that those who were engaged and living together before the wedding were as likely to stay together for at least a decade as those who had never lived together.
"You want to see how it's going to work out before you commit to something," explained one man.
Of course this trend it doesn't ring true for everyone.
"I never lived together with my husband before we got married, but we did end up in divorce," admitted an older woman.
The CDC also found that those living together without a marriage commitment were less likely to stay together in the long run.
"I've lived with my... were not technically married... for 15 years already," this woman said. But was she still "looking"?
"Your options are always open when you're not married," she said with a laugh.
