Cohabitation the Practice of Cohabitation

Cohabitation

The practice of cohabitation used to be a taboo practice, and unmarried couples who cohabitated without marriage were stigmatized in American society. However, in the past two decades alone, cohabitation has increased so sharply that over half the couples who married in the United States by the late 1990s had cohabitated, compared to only 10% in 1965 (Caspar and Cohen 2000). Furthermore, data from Bumpass and Lu (1999) show that from 1987 to 1995 alone, the number of women in their late 30s who reported cohabitating at least once in their lifetime has risen from 30% to 48%. This jump, recorded within a mere eight-year window, highlights the growing prevalence of the practice of cohabitation. This paper examines the reasons for the increase in cohabitation, based on symbolic interactionism and constructionism.

The rise of cohabitation

There are numerous changes in society that contribute to the rise of cohabitation. Of interest to social interactionists is the growing importance of individualism in American society. Lewis (2001) believes that social changes, such as the rise of secularism, contributed significantly to the rise in cohabitation rates. Since the 1960s, there has been a marked decline in religious adherence among Americans, as well as lower figures relating to religious adherence.

There were also recent social events that served as precursors to the rise in cohabitation rates. The Sexual Revolution that occurred in the 1960s was kicked off by the invention of the birth control pill, an element that helped curbed the unwanted pregnancies that led to many unplanned marriages. The Sexual Revolution also changed perceptions regarding pre-marital sex, one of the major sources of disapproval for cohabitation in the first place. Once society began to take a less conservative view towards sexual relations, there was less stigmatization of cohabitation as well (King and Scott 2005).

Other social factors may have contributed to rising cohabitation rates. For example, the changing gender roles meant that many young women had more options, whereas previous social expectations defined women as wives and mothers. Social changes caused by the industrialization that occurred after the war also contributed to higher living costs and the need for dual careers (Ogden 2005).

Social effects

Numerous studies, such as Amato et al. (2003) have shown that couples who live together prior to marriage were more likely to get divorced. However, sociologists caution against attributing causality to this statistic. Instead of attributing the increase in divorce rates to cohabitation, some sociologists point out that many cohabitators differ in important ways from those who get married. The people who cohabitate may be afraid of commitment or could harbor nontraditional values that make increase the possibility of marital instability.

Sociologists also caution against automatic assumptions that cohabitating couples do not want children or have the same impulses to create families. Manning (1993) undertook one of the early researches on the question of whether cohabitating and non-cohabitating single women have equal tendencies towards marriage prior to childbirth. In addition, Manning also looks for differences between black and white women, as well as socioeconomic status. Her research finds that for Caucasian women in their twenties, those who cohabitate with their mates are more likely to get married prior to childbirth. This statistical relationship was not observed among African-American women in the same age group.

This research therefore suggests that cohabitation carries different meanings for the two groups, an issue which may be of interest to symbolic interactionists. For African-Americans, cohabitation and childrearing were deemed more acceptable. In contrast, Caucasian women were more likely to consider cohabitation a stage in the marriage process.

Research is still being conducted regarding the effects of cohabitation unions on children, especially since statistics show that at least two-fifths of children in the country live with their mother and one cohabitating father. Early research shows that children in such households may be disadvantaged in terms of family income, as cohabitating couples tend to earn less than their married counterparts (Bumpass and Lu 1999). These children are also more likely to undergo transitions in family structures (Ogden 2005). Parents and guardians need to take these needs into account to take care of their children's well-being.