The February issue of Journal of Family Psychology is claiming couples who live together prior to marriage are making an unwise decision.
“Cohabiting to test a relationship turns out to be associated with the most problems in relationships,” said lead researcher Galena Rhoades of the University of Denver. “Perhaps if a person is feeling a need to test the relationship, he or she already knows some important information about how a relationship may go over time.”
The study does not give a direct support toward waiting until marriage to cohabitate, but its results do give couples some encouragement to wait. For this, the study is applauded.
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July 15, 2009 at 9:49 am
Brian Hobbs
Thanks for the encouraging update, Chris. Meanwhile, new data, published by USAToday of all places, show that a majority of 20-24 year-old Americans approve of cohabitation. Read more about the various and sundry trends here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-07-08-living-together_N.htm
July 15, 2009 at 10:05 am
Chris Doyle
Wow! It’s interesting that USA Today would steal my headline concept and reverse the message.
I also noticed the paper references the JFP study but appears to downplay its findings about cohabitation outside of marriage.