Cohabitation

Cohabitation

Refers to situations in which two people live together and are involved in an emotional and/or sexually intimate relationship

Types of Cohabitation

• Temporary informal Arrangement

• Alternative to Marriage

• Preparation for Marriage

Cohabitation Trends: 2011 → 2021

The proportion of people who live in a couple that are cohabitating has increased from 20.6% to 24.3%

Cohabitating and Childbearing Trends

Nearly half of all children (47%) are born outside of marriage

Causes of Cohabitation: Test runs for Marriage

Many see cohabitation as a trail marriage and intend to marry if it goes well

• for some cohabitation is a temporary phase before marriage

• some see cohabitation as a permanent alternative to marriage

Causes of Cohabitation: Test runs for Marriage - Bejin

Cohabitation among some young people represents a conscious attempt to create a more personally negotiated and equal relationship than conventional patriarchal marriage

• women who cohabit do less homework

Causes of Cohabitation: Economic Reasons

Change in position of women means that they are less likely to marry for economic security

• huge increase in marriage costs - UK couples on average spend £20,775 on their weddings

Causes of Cohabitation: Change Attitudes to Marriage - Morgan

Sees it as part of a worrying trend in which marriage is going out of fashion - family is in serious decline

• ‘increase in sexual partners and partner changes’

Causes of Cohabitation: Change Attitudes to Marriage - Chandler

People are choosing to cohabit as a long-term alternative to marriage

• reflected in the increasing proportion of children born out of marriage

Causes of Cohabitation: Secularisation

Young people without religious preferences are more likely to cohabit than those with a religion

Causes of Cohabitation: Living Apart Together - Levin

LATS - long-term commitment, intimate relationships where individuals involve themselves as a couple but do not share a common house by choice

Causes of Cohabitation: Living Apart Together - Duncan and Phillips

Found that 1 in 10 adults are living together apart

Found that both choice and a constraint play a part in whether couples live together - majority actively chose to live apart

• 20% see LATS as their ‘ideal relationship’

Concluded that LAT’s are no longer seen as abnormal, it probably does not amount to a rejection of more traditional relationships