Studies show that cohabitation (living with someone of the opposite sex and having sexual intercourse with that person outside of marriage) is climbing in these past 50 years to record highs. Not only will there be no rising generation and dramatic depopulation worldwide except in some small parts of Africa and among the Mormons, but people refusing parenthood grow up to be of weak character.
The cohabitation of couples is increasing but we are not seeing a lot of research on it. The variables tested in the data thus far are not as comprehensive as often they are in other fields. Where is the info coming to lead public opinion in favor of this when the studies show it is not leading to marriage stability? Do the ways we view marital stability, economic and sociological, suffice? For these are how it is measured so far (co. and child effect).
Decline in marriage interest in first years of marriage (Kurdek 1999) (from Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication). Marriage has been what holds society together for millennia, and we are in the middle of an experiment of devaluing it, and throwing it out by and large.
Those who cohabit likely to have risk factors in the first place (Bumpass & Sweet, 1989) (from Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication). This has concerned people researching weather cohabitation causes divorce/unhealthy relationships, but studies show that the factor for the unhealthy relationship is not a set of predetermined factors, but is the fact of their cohabitation.
Couples which cohabited 1st before marriage have less problem solving ??? less problem solving, skills? just saying less problem solving doesn’t make a whole ton of sense. (from Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication). It seems that they used sex as the basis for their relationship rather than the sealing of their relationship. They lose their reasoning powers as they give themselves up to passion, literally meaning passive, or something out of one’s control.
Dependent variables in studies on cohabitating were problem solving (i.e., six individual and three dyadic) and social support (i.e., two help seeking and two helper) behaviors. (from Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication). These factors go to show the healthiness of a relationship; they let us rate the relationship quality.
Studies have consistently shown that, compared to spouses who did not cohabit, spouses who cohabited before marriage have higher rates of marital separation and divorce (e.g., Bennett, Blanc, & Bloom, 1988) (from Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication). They think that having sex with each other tests their chemistry to see if they are compatible, but what they need to test are each other’s personalities not bodies. Some blame the latter-day saints for dating a lot before marriage, dating many people at a time as well, but this is where the selection needs to take place, not in the sex, but in the meeting many persons. All
Many believe cohabitation will improve their ability to choose a better marriage partner (Hall & Zhao, 1995). (from Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication) What causes this belief? Who is pushing this agenda? The studies are showing that people who cohabit have more divorce!
Approximately 4 million unmarried opposite-sex couples living together, seven times that of 1970 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998). (from Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication).
“The effects of children on marital stability led us to propose that the presence of children in a cohabitation relationship is very likely to inhibit the cohabiting couple from terminating their relationship” (cohabitation children effect article). But cohabitating persons don’t have as many children, so they are gambling.
Nonmarital cohabitation increasingly becomes a part of family (cohabitation children effect article). This shows that we are not doing enough footwork to get out the statistics about the negative effects of cohabitating. We are settling for Hollywood rumors rather than science.
“Prior research on marital stability indicates that the presence of a child or children in the family reduces the risk of marital disruption” (Becker, Landes, & Michael, 1977; Cherlin, 1977; Lillard & Waite, 1993; Mauldon, 1992; Morgan & Rindfuss, 1985; Morgan, Lye, & Condran, 1988; Thornton, 1977; Waite, Haggstrom, & Kanouse, 1985; Waite & Lillard, 199) (cohabitation children effect article).
Much increase in cohabitation (Bumpass & Sweet, 19) (cohabitation children effect article).
“Relationship between childbearing and marital stability has taken two approaches: an economic approach and a sociological approach” (cohabitation children effect article). The religious aspect has been deleted. Marriage is now separated from religion, sex, and children.
“Little research attention has been paid to the formation of cohabitation relationships, and even less to the stability of these relations” (cohabitation children effect article). So we need to research the dating trends in young people if we are to get at the root of this, and of the media influence from marketers appealing to their underdeveloped brains, focusing on their primitive nature.
Timing of marital unions apply to nonmarital union timing as well (cohabitation children effect article). People are seeing their cohabitations as their life marriages.
Do cohabitators want marriage? Dr. Carroll of BYU has showed that 8/8 of them do. (Carroll, 2017). Usually the women are willing to marry and want to marry, but are cohabitating in an attempt to get the men on board.
The reason we have more cohabitating is birth control, which allows young people to live sexual lives while not searching for a reliable marriage partner, but a soul-mate type person who completes them. (The Long and Leisurely Route: Coming of Age in Europe Today).
The first half of the 19th century in Europe, early 20’s was the latest people would marry (The Long and Leisurely Route: Coming of Age in Europe Today).
One example which puts well the case of what our young adults are expecting out of life today is illustrated in this story, “Marie, age 28, is a student at a university in Denmark, studying psychology. Currently she is in Italy, collecting interviews for a research project, and living with her Brazilian boyfriend Pablo, who is studying engineering there. Her plan is to become a psychologist who works with deaf children and their families, but much of her life is up in the air right now. How much more education should she pursue, if any? She and Pablo would like to marry and have two children eventually, but when? Their lives are busy now. How could they fit children in amid their other ambitions and adventures? If there is one thing that is certain about Marie’s existence, it is that her life is vastly different from that of her mother or grandmother when they were 28 years old.” The grandparents of these Millennials had their first child a year after marriage, and were married by age 20 on average, assuming adult roles at that time. (The Long and Leisurely Route: Coming of Age in Europe Today)
Europeans only have 1.4 children on average today (The Long and Leisurely Route: Coming of Age in Europe Today). This is below what is needed to replace the population: 2.33. Now the only ones who meet the 2.33 bar are Mormons and some African nations. Zero developed nations are at the reproduction to repopulate bar. Children are no longer associated with sex or marriage. Sex is no longer associated with marriage. The parents now make children a collector’s item rather than a part of their lives. Of course no one is looking at how children refine parents. When people refuse to become parents, they live in a state of arrested development, thinking that they are further advanced than they are. Having children pushes you further than you ever thought possible, and with no one having children now, we are witnessing a rising generation of pansies. Brilliant, well versed in the texts of the scholars, but pansy on all accounts of character. Generational theory has deemed the uprising generation as the one which will decide whether society will cease to exist as we know it because of their failure to reproduce. This has become a well-recognized crisis.
This time of wandering around in your 20’s before marriage has been termed “The apex of freedom” and “the self-focused age.” (The Long and Leisurely Route: Coming of Age in Europe Today). What are the 20’s people spending their time on? Some of them school, others leisure, others endless dating, basically anything but altruistic behavior.
One consequence of the cohabitation increase over the past 50 years is that “the continent has too many old people and not enough young ones.” (The Long and Leisurely Route: Coming of Age in Europe Today). This makes taking care of the old people harder. For millennia the retirement savings has consisted of having lots of children to take care of you when you are senile and feeble. Today people try to save money for retirement, but few can, and with inflation from the Federal Reserve, the real value of money saved will never be as concrete for us as is the working hands of your posterity to obtain bread for their aged parents.
