'Cohabitation before marriage does NOT cause divorce': Experts debunk long-believed relationship myth



Premarital cohabitation does not affect a couple’s likelihood of getting divorced, according to a new scientific study.

The University of North Carolina’s sociologist Arielle Kuperberg, who carried out the study, confirmed to Live Science that ‘cohabitation does not cause divorce.’

Unlike previous studies of this nature, Ms Kuperberg decided to compare relationships using the length of time that couples had lived together before marriage, rather than their age when they moved in together.

Happy houses: A new study shows how there is no correlation between premarital cohabitation and divorce

Using three sets of data (from 1996, 2002 and 2006) collected by the U.S. government’s National Survey of Family Growth, Ms Kuperberg compared information on more than 7,000 people who had been married at least once.

Looking specifically at when the couples moved in together, and when and if they divorced, Ms Kuperberg found that there was no correlation between divorce rates and pre-marital cohabitation.

Her findings directly negate reports dating back to the Seventies which claimed that cohabitation caused a spike in divorce among couples due to ‘sliding’, the inclination to get married out of comfort.

Her research has shed new light on cohabitation culture in the U.S., though – providing supportive evidence for a 2010 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



The organization found that in 2010 nearly 75per cent of women aged 30 and younger had lived with a partner outside of marriage, compared with 70per cent in 2002, and 62per cent in 1995.



Only 23per cent of women in 2010 were already married when they moved in with their partner. This number is down from 30per cent in 2002 and 39per cent in 1995, offering more proof that premarital cohabitation is on the rise.



In the CDC study’s three-year duration, 40per cent of its cohabitating participants got married, 32per cent stayed together, and 27per cent broke up.



It also found that the length of time that people live together before marrying is increasing.

