Should Cohabitation Be Viewed Around The World?

All around the world, people have differing opinions on everything, whether its politics, economics, religion, or education. The same is true with the concept of cohabitation. In some cultures it is normal, or even expected. In other cultures it is viewed in a much different way. Researching cohabitation has allowed me to not only get a glimpse of what cohabitation is like around the world but it has also answered some questions that I previously had. Every scholarly journal, website, magazine, and textbook defines cohabitation in slightly different terms. Personally, I was define cohabitation as a situation where two unmarried live together, often involving a sexual relationship. After reading about cohabitation, I would consider it to be more similar to being married than to being single. I think that it is more similar to being married because of the fact that you are living with your significant other and in most cases, cohabiting couples are having sex or raising children, things that

My thinking behind that opinion was this: if you are going to get married eventually, why not live with your significant other? I thought it would be important to experience what your life would be like if you married someone. However, the Journal of Marriage and Family said this, “Cohabiters experience disagreement with greater frequency than their married counterparts. Similarly, cohabiters report more fights or violence than marrieds, and they also report lower levels of fairness in and happiness with their relationships relative to marrieds” (Brown and Booth 674). Numerous studies also found that couples who live together before marriage are more likely to get divorced after just a few years of marriage. This made me rethink the decision of cohabitation. Even though many cohabiters eventually marry, maybe living separately before marriage is a better