Premarital Cohabitation

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Premarital Cohabitation is a rapidly growing phenomenon in our society today. Cohabitation is defined as two people living in the same household who are unrelated, and of the opposite sex (Kunz, 2012). There are many studies that state disadvantages to cohabitating, before marriage, but at the same time there are many studies stating little to no difference in cohabitating couples and couples who did not cohabitate before marriage.
There are quite of few different types of cohabitation before marriage that Kunz (2012) lists her book. A very common type is the “trail marriage,” the opportunity for couples to test out their compatibility in a long-term mindset. This is more typical of college students and graduates rather than that of people with high school diplomas or less (Copen, 2013). Another type that relates to trail marriage is the prelude to marriage cohabitation. This type of premarital cohabitation has the expectation of marriage; the couple is just testing out the relationship. Similar to that in the stage in marriage process cohabitation, this type of couple tend to achieve other opportunities in their lives before getting married. It is also common for this type of couple to have children before marriage.
Unlike the above listed premarital cohabitations, there are some couples who cohabitate without any intention of getting married. This type is call alternative to singlehood cohabitation, rather than being single these couples prefer to live together. Another cohabitation with no intention of getting married would be the alternative to marriage cohabitation. These couples generally have children and families; they just have a preference to not be married. Also there is in indistinguishable from marriage which are...

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...ht. Cohabitation with out intention of marriage is risky and probably full of emotional ups and downs that is not good for a persons overall health.
Although there has been a major change in attitude towards cohabitating before marriage, it is still a diverse issue with many sides to it. People either choose to focus on the positives of testing a marriage out before actually being married or focus on the negative effects such as divorce and depression.

Works Cited

Copen, C., Daniels, K., & Mosher, W. (2013, April 4). National Health Statistics Report. www.cdc.gov. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
Gordon, A. (2012, August 19). The Potential Perils of Premarital Cohabitation and How to Avoid Them. Psychologytoday.com. Retrieved November 18, 2013
Kunz, J. (2012). THINK marriages and families, 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Retrieved November 18, 2013.

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