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Emily Warner

Mrs. Cramer

Comp Pd. 7

4 Oct. 2018

The Value of Cohabitation: Everything you Need to Know

Why do couples waste money on eloping together when cohabitation is an option? A

great amount of people have numerous different opinions and feelings about this question, but

there are different advantages and disadvantages to cohabitation and marriage. Cohabitation is

the state of living together and having a sexual relationship without being married. Studies show

that only fifty percent of first cohabiting couples ever get married and couples who lived together

before marriage tend to divorce early in their marriage (Bramlett and Mosher). Most people tend

to believe that living together before marriage is the way to go. With the downsides there are also

good, every relationship has different preferences. While premarital cohabitation allows for

greater sexual experimentation, intimacy without legal commitment, and different disadvantages

are contributed to this living situation

Couples who live together show greater sexual experiences and more confidence in their

relationship than other couples (Bramlett and Mosher). Confidence makes any person feel better

about themselves. If a person feels good about themselves and thier partner has confidence too,

the relationship will be much happier. Living together before marriage helps find out everything

about one another. It also builds confidence which allows the ability to do and say anything.

Besides from finding out what the partners sexual preferences are, it will also be discovered what

their chore preferences are, bill management skills, spending habits, social habits, hygiene, and

religion. Cohabitation is a test before marriage. Living together with each other will be known as
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what brought them together. Together, everything will be known and have a steady household

before getting married and there will be less hassle and stress when the marriage time comes.

Premarital cohabitation will better your relationship emotionally, sexually, and economically and

show if two people are truly right for each other. Confidence will be the most positive effect of

the relationship when cohabiting.

Although, with getting married comes legal commitment, cohabitation allows intimacy

without it. This means that if they both decided to break up, it would be easier by less paper

work and money. Cohabitation is not entangled in legitimist religious laws. Resulting in no fight

or money is wasted if something was to happen. Cohabitation is a non-committed, not long

lasting, not durable relationship. With not being married, there are no marriage papers and legal

commitments with each other. Couples can easily break their relationship whenever they choose.

Cutting off the relationship while cohabiting, it is still legal to do so without any of the hassle.

Studies have shown that cohabiters have also remained friends and been the best for hard times

with family or friend issues (Klineetal). There are no laws that state that it is illegal to live with

loved ones without being married. With not being fully committed with him or her makes it so

that it is alright to also be able to stretch preferences and go out and discover more when there is

no commitment involved. It sounds unforgiving, but stretching preferences during a non-

committed relationship may guide both people to finding the one without marrying the wrong

person. Cohabitation opens many different doors to both men and women, bringing less stress

and problems but also making life decisions way easier than being married.

Although there are many positives to cohabiting with someone, it may not be the first

option to jump into. Living together may seem like a decent idea, but cohabitation may lead to a

quicker divorce. Thirty-three percent of cohabiters end up in divorce because of earlier problems

in the relationship. Couples that live together cannot enjoy their life emotionally and sexually
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without being married, but having a partner. Marriage is to show a destination and goal with life.

When cohabiting with a significant other there will be more problems with finances. Since there

is no marriage, it is unable to be eligible for a lot of different things. As an example, if both

partners decide to have a child, the father legally is not allowed to take the child whenever he

desires, court would have to be involved (Lillardetal). There are no papers that state the, birth

certificate and social security card with the fathers' name on it. If one of the partners were to

pass, there may not be any will left to the widow. Being married means a legally recognized

union of two people as partners in a personal relationship. Getting married is a promise through

everything. Cohabiting with someone means there is no commitment and have freedom to

anything. That opens the door for cheating, lying, and not being fully committed.

While premarital cohabitation allows for greater or different sexual experimentation and

intimacy without legal commitment, cohabitation has become more popular as more problems

and disadvantages are occurring in their relationships (Klineetal). Greater sexual experiments

make more confidence in the relationship. Confidence, to every person, is the best feeling.

Confidence in a relationship will significantly make the relationship strive. If both partners are

happy with each other and happy with themselves, it will be a longer and happier relationship.

Although they’re not one-hundred percent committed to one another, they still get the freedom in

the relationship to explore more and have the right amount of time to themselves. With no full,

legal commitment, there will be down falls. Since cohabitation has become more popular in the

last few years in younger and older age groups, more problems have been discovered. Divorce

rates are going up significantly high and fast. Furthermore, disadvantages about cohabiting are

coming to attention. There are an abundant of different opinions in the world and everyone

thinks different about cohabitation. If anyone is considering whether to cohabit or get married,
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make sure there is research done for each option. Deeply discuss it and make sure it is what both

want and desire.

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Work Cited

Bramlett, Matthew D. and William D. Mosher “Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce, and

Remarriage in United States” Abstract. Division of Vital Statistics 23.1 (2002): 1. Google

Scholar. 30 Sept. 2018

Kline, Galena H. et al. “Timing Is Everything: Pre-Engagement Cohabitation and Increased Risk

for Poor Marital Outcomes” Abstract. APA PsycNET 18.1 (2004): 311. Google Scholar.

Oct 2. 2018

Lillard, Lee A, Michael J. Brien, and Linda J. Waite “Premarital cohabitation and subsequent

marital” Abstract. Demography 3.1 (1995): 437. Google Scholar. 29 Sept. 2019