living together?

Question

what are the statsic on living together verse marriage and what has the better out come.. not living together or living together

why???????

Answer 1

I copied this directly from the web site below:

Those who live together before marriage are the least likely to marry each other.
A Columbia University study cited in New Woman magazine found that "only 26% of women surveyed and a scant 19% of the men married the person with whom they were cohabiting." A more comprehensive National Survey of Families and Households, based on interviews with 13,000 people, concluded, "About 40% of cohabiting unions in the U.S. break up without the couple getting married." One of the reasons may be that those who cohabit drift from one partner to another in search of the 'right' person. The average cohabitant has several partners in a lifetime.

Those who live together before marriage have higher separation and divorce rates.
Psychology Today reported the findings of Yale University sociologist Neil Bennett that cohabiting women were 80% more likely to separate or divorce than were women who had not lived with their spouses before marriage. The National Survey of Families and Households indicates that "unions begun by cohabitation are almost twice as likely to dissolve within 10 years compared to all first marriages: 57% to 30%." Another five-year study by William Axinn of the University of Chicago of 800 couples reported in the Journal of Demography that those who cohabit are the most accepting of divorce. In a Canadian study at the University of Western Ontario, sociologists found a direct relationship between cohabitation and divorce when investigating over 8,000 ever-married men and women (Hall and Zhoa 1995:421-427). It was determined that living in a non-marital union "has a direct negative impact on subsequent marital stability," perhaps because living in such a union "undermines the legitimacy of formal marriage" and so "reduces commitment of marriage."

Answer 2

My husband and I lived together for 3 years before marriage and have been happily married for 4 1/2 years now. I'm glad we did it because we were in high school when we got together and I was not ready to get married until I was at least legal to buy myself a beer and finish school. We were engaged before we ever moved in together.

You do what you feel is best! There is no sense in rushing into a marriage that you are not sure about as it will lead to more heartache than living together before marriage. Marriage is a serious thing which many tend to forget these days before they tie the knot.

Answer 3

My wife and I are very traditional and old-fashioned. We did not live together before we were married. I do not claim to be an expert on the subject but as far as I am concerned there are two ways to look at the question: 1) First we live together and if things work out we will get married or 2) First we take life-long marriage vows and then we do whatever is necessary to make our marriage work. I have some friends who lived together before marriage. The arrangement worked well for them and they are still together, which is great. I remember asking a friend shortly after his wedding how everything was going. He said, in effect, everything is fine, it is no different than before. As strange as it may seem, his response reinforced my decision to not live with a woman before marriage. I think marriage is one of life's biggest milestones. I think marriage is and should be a life-changing event. My wife and I wanted our wedding day to be the first day of the rest of our lives. We wanted to be able to answer that question by saying "Marriage is wonderful". We did not want to answer "it is fine, same as before."

Answer 4

I don't know the statistics on living together versus marriage, I can tell you that when you live together you run the risk of one of the couple running off leaving the other one with nothing but the bills to pay and no money to do so with. At least in a marriage you get one half of the maritial assets and each one get's one half of the marital debt.

So what would be better? Living together you run the daily risk of something going wrong and your "partner" taking off leaving you with the rent/mortgage while they take everything else. Not living together, you are responsible for you own debt and your own rent/mortgage and you dont have to worry about something going around and the other person taking off with it all leaving you with nothing but the bills. You figure it out...which is better?

Answer 5

You can find out so much about someone when living together. This will build a stronger marriage, or show you who each of you really are without a divorce. It is a good idea. Just do not put the goal off for years(marriage).

Answer 6

I would recommend living together before marriage because...
Moving in together before marriage is like a test to see if you are ready to spend that much time together- all the time. You will run into each other's annoying habits, etc. and see if you are ready to deal with that forever.
If you wait until you are married before you move in together and then discover little things that drive you crazy it may be too much to handle and result in divorce if they just keep building up into bigger problems.

Answer 7

I'd say livign together with marriage, onyl because when you're "just dating" someone, it's much easier to leave then if you're married. I don't know if living together married or not effects if you stay together forever, because living together can be hard, married or not. If you live with a person for a long time, get passed the "bad phase" then go on to marry, I'd bet that your chances of makign it forver are pretty good.

Answer 8

LIving together when it results in marriage; the marriage has a greater probability for success, with success being defined as a not getting a divorce. It works for some and not for others, but those it doesn't work for don't get married.

Answer 9

We lived together two years, but than got married. I was not blind going into the marriage, been married 26 years now. I think in the long haul you want it to be real.

Answer 10

Id say you should try living together before you commit to marraige. It really lets you get to know a person and helps you decide if you can live with them forever. I lived with my guy a year and a half before we got married. Be warned: you will have alot of stupid fights for a while but hang on and it will be wonderful once you get past it all if it is meant to be.