Preview

Cohabitation before Marriage

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
660 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cohabitation before Marriage
Cohabitation before Marriage Why do young adults cohabitate? Today, teenage couples are planning their lives too soon. Many teens do not realize what could happen in their lives, higher debt, family disownment or shame, and even children. In order to develop solid relationships with a decrease in the likelihood of divorce, many young adults are choosing to cohabitate before marriage in today’s society. Once teenagers turn eighteen, all they can think about is freedom and how they think they are automatically adults. Many young adults choose to move out of their parents’ house once they have graduated because of the freedom. The word freedom sounds fun, adventure, and most of all no rules. As young adults, we choose to not see all of the responsibilities of being on our own. We let our feelings and emotions of being on our own blind all of the negative effects it has on our lives. Not only is it against our parents’ wishes, but it is also against our moral beliefs that our parents have taught us over the years. As young adults, we run to low paying jobs to try and find ways to pay for this lifestyle that we have chosen. We all know that working in these types of positions will only make it even more difficult to provide us with a way of life that we are accustomed too. We will be working to only have the money to pay our bills, and that will soon make this lifestyle not look so great anymore. Not having the ability to go out with friends or go to the mall and buy a new outfit only because we are struggling to make ends meet. This type of choice will be very difficult at first, but it is a part of life that each of us has to learn and grow from. Many of our parents and grandparents were brought up in an era when people did not live together before marriage. But as the world is changing more and more, people are living together before marriage instead of getting married then living together. There will be some people who will, unfortunately, be disowned by
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Examine the Reasons for Changes in the Patterns of Marriage and Cohabitation in the Last 40 Years Essay Example
    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Examine the Reasons for Changes in the Patterns of Marriage and Cohabitation in the Last 40 Years Essay Example

    In order to assess reasons for the changes in the patterns of marriage and cohabitation; it is necessary to first establish the term marriage and cohabitation. Marriage is traditionally conceived to be a legally recognized relationship, between two consenting adults, that carries certain rights and obligations. Cohabitation is an arrangement whereby couples who are not legally married live together in partnership within the common law. Cohabitation has become so widespread that the term itself is now rarely used. I will now critically examine the changes in the patterns of marriage and cohabitation in the last 40 years or so.…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examine the Reasons for changes in Cohabiatation and Marriage in the last 40 years
    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Examine the Reasons for changes in Cohabiatation and Marriage in the last 40 years

    Over the last 40 years marriage rates have declined significantly while the number of couple’s cohabitating has risen rapidly. This is due to our changing society where equality, laws, social acceptance and religions have all contributed into the way we view marriage and relationships. In the 1970’s there were around 400,000 first marriages whereas, in 2011, there were 248,000. The average ages of people getting married have also increased from 25 for men and 23 for women in 1961 to 36 for men and 33 for women in 2011. Cohabitation is a big factor in the decreasing number of marriages with people using it as either an alternative to marriage entirely, or a ‘trial marriage’ which just delays the time of a couple’s marriage.…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How to land your Kid in Therapy
    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How to land your Kid in Therapy

    One perspective I found accurate was that many parents depend on their children for happiness. It is assumed that these days adults in their 20's don't want to grow up, but Gottlieb makes an interesting statement, "The problem may be less kids are refusing to separate and individuate than that their parents are refusing to do so." This is a strong point. Depending on someone else for happiness is fear-based desperation and only diminishes freedom. Many parents lack a sense of purpose outside childrearing so much that they make the child the main focus of the family as opposed to a part of the whole. Most young adults even the coddled ones, still want to venture out and experience some degree of independence. I've come across an experience similar to this. My best friend is the youngest in her family will be the last to go off to college in Washington and her parents have discussed moving to Seattle to start a new life, so that she will not be too far away from them. This is a prime example of life revolving around offspring and is all too common.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Patterns Of Marriage And Cohabitation Essay
    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Patterns Of Marriage And Cohabitation Essay

    As society’s view of a ‘conventional family’ has changed over the last 40 years, the variety of acceptable norms has increased drastically. In the past, an unmarried woman or spinster would be looked down on in society ,as it was a norm that a woman should be married with children. If they didn’t they would be judged as there was a problem with them so that they couldn’t have kids or a husband. The average age for a women first getting married in 1961 was 23.1 this has risen to 30 by June 2009. This shows that women are now waiting longer for their first marriage. This is down to many different reasons. Single women aren’t looked down on by the majority of people today, they are viewed as strong, independent women. This means that there is next to no pressure for women to get married quickly. This has resulted in the rise in cohabitation. Marriage is no longer seen as the definition of a proper relationship by society. 40 years ago, living together outside of marriage was a rarity; however cohabitation can now be seen as a socially acceptable alternative to marriage. This is partly due to the changing attitudes to sexual relationships mean that sex…

    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Emerging Adulthood Research Paper
    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Emerging Adulthood Research Paper

    In 1960 less than a half a million people cohabitated. Today that number is closer to five million people along with another half a million same sex couples living together. During the 1990s fifty-six percent of the marriages that occurred were preceded by living together first. There is greater than a fifty percent chance that a woman will marry if she has lived with the man for more than five years. More than half of high school seniors’ believe that it is a good idea to live together before marriage. If you are divorced you are more likely to cohabitate. There are advantages to living together before you are married. Economically it may provide a better life for the two people to be able share household expenses. People who are on public assistance may lose that assistance if they are married. College students may choose to live with their significant other secretly as to not lose their parents assistance. It also provides people with a way to share a life without the legal entanglements of marriage. Some people believe that cohabitation will strengthen their relationships and eventually lead to marriage. Other studies show that living together first show a divorce rate twice as high after ten years of marriage. Cohabitation may not actually be the cause of divorce though. Typically people who with less traditional views of marriage cohabitate together. Because they already value the idea less that may be what leads to eventual…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Underage Drinking In College
    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Underage Drinking In College

    Due to the great amount of freedom underage teenagers receive after they turn eighteen; it can result in them having an invincible feeling. They are no longer over protected and constantly supervised by their parents; therefore, they can finally make their own decisions. The majority of teens move out their houses after they graduate high school to college campuses or their own place usually far…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Living Together Before Marriage In The United States
    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Living Together Before Marriage In The United States

    According to a census report, there has been a 72 percent increase in the number of cohabiting couples since 1990.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Effects of Cohabitation on Future Marriage Success
    • 2251 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The Effects of Cohabitation on Future Marriage Success

    Over the course of the last half-century, living together before marriage has gone from rare and heavily stigmatized to normal and commonplace. At the same time, divorce rates have more than doubled, going from 20-25% of all marriages ending in divorce in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, to almost 50% today. Many couples, particularly young couples, believe that by cohabiting before marriage, they will be better able to choose a compatible marriage partner, and go into the marriage with a more accurate view of how they and their partner will solve conflict, divide responsibility, and how compatible they are both emotionally and sexually. However, most studies have found that couples that cohabit before marriage are more likely to get a divorce within the first ten years of marriage. Researchers are divided as to whether cohabitation itself is to blame for the increase in divorce rates, or whether other factors, such as socio-economic status, childhood family life, or level of education that are statistical factors for divorce are the same factors that lead to a predilection for premarital cohabitation. Using studies from the last ten years, this paper will argue that as cohabitation becomes societally normalized the likelihood of divorce will correlatively decrease, and that cohabitation on its own does not contribute to an unsuccessful or unstable future marriage. For the purposes of this paper, there will be two limitations on the studies and data collections used. The paper will focus only on studies on heterosexual couples, as legal same-sex marriage is too new for any meaningful data sets to have been accumulated. Additionally, the study will only look at couples that cohabit with the eventual goal of getting married, as opposed to couples that consider legal marriage to be unnecessary or undesirable in their union.…

    • 2251 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Marriage Becoming Obsolete Research Paper
    • 2348 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Marriage Becoming Obsolete Research Paper

    A survey done by Time Magazine in 2009 read “ A Survey of 2,691 Americans found that nearly four in ten Americans think Marriage is becoming obsolete” (Time). For most Americans this is a scary epidemic. Marriage for most Americans solidifies family; marriage is a lifetime commitment between two people, for better or for worse. The romantic idea of marriage we see in movies is no longer the modern idea of marriage. Americans are getting married less often because of the economy, the definition of the “American family” has changed, and the poor examples America sees at home and in the media.…

    • 2348 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cohabitation In The United States
    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cohabitation In The United States

    Meg Jay compared the cohabitation to a credit card when your signing up for it with a 0% interest and after a while it goes up and later after you cant keep up with the payments you feel stuck, and that's how it feels with the cohabitation. Today many people believe that if you end up living with the person you love that nothing will come out good that you would just be wasting your time. Another disadvantage of cohabiting would be if it doesn't work out then one person would up end losing everything. “The best time to work on someone’s marriage is before he or she has one” (Meg Jay).…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Marriages Decline
    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Marriages Decline

    “Marriage has declined as the central institution under which households are organized and children are raised,” Smith said. “People marry later and divorce and cohabitate more. A growing proportion of children has been born outside of marriage.”…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Living Together Before Marriage
    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Living Together Before Marriage

    A. Marriage is like fine win, if tended to properly, it gets better with age. According to Neil Shah, “In the last 50 years, the percentage of men and women who cohabit, or live together, before marriage – “living in sin” as it was still called in the 1960s – has increased by almost 900 percent. Today 70 percent of women aged 30 to 34 have cohabited with a male partner, and two-thirds of new marriages take place between couples who have already lived together for an average of 31 months” (Shah). Deciding whether or not to live together before marriage is an important decision to make, and today I would like to inform you about the pros, cons, financial and religious aspects of the topic.…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cohabitation Dating: Is There An Alternative To Singlehood?
    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cohabitation Dating: Is There An Alternative To Singlehood?

    Cohabitation dating is more common now than it was in the past. Couples decide to live together without being married for many different reasons. According to Benokraitis (2015), “Dating cohabitation is essentially an alternative to singlehood because the decision may be based on a combination of reasons, such as convenience, finances, companionship, and sexual accessibility” (p.257). Cohabitation also depends on age, gender, race, and ethnicity, religion, and social class. I have many friends who have postponed their weddings but remain in cohabitation relationships. I have discussed this situation with my friends and many of them who cohabits do not want to sleep alone at night. Most of my unmarried friends have children with their significant other so they feel it’s unnecessary to live apart. It…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Identify and Explain Two Reasons for an Increase in Cohabitation [17]
    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Identify and Explain Two Reasons for an Increase in Cohabitation [17]

    One reason is changing social attitudes. Religion regarded cohabitation as ‘living in sin’, but today there is less shame attached to it. Barlow et al found increasing acceptance of cohabitation. This shows that the change in religions social attitude, cohabitation is accepted more, leading to an increase in cohabitation. Some people prefer love that focuses of on intimacy, closeness and emotion rather than the duties of marriage. Giddens argues that there has been a trend towards confluent love. This love focuses on the intimacy, closeness and emotion of a relationship, rather than the feelings of obligation and duty that is in vows at marriage. When a marriage no longer has confluent love, the relationship is likely to end. This shows that monogamy may start being replaced by serial monogamy, in which cohabitation is most suited to. However, the ONS found that 60% of cohabiting couples will eventually end in marriage showing that monogamy can often replace serial monogamy. There is less pressure to follow traditional norms and values. Beck and Beck-Gernshiem argue that individualism has led to changing attitudes towards cohabitation and marriage. There is less pressure to follow the norms and values around love and relationships set by family, religion or culture. This shows that the change in attitudes has led to people making their own decision about whether they marry or cohabitate. The acceptance of sex outside marriage has made it more likely that cohabitation will occur. Allan and Crow argue that effective contraception has made it possible for partners to cohabit without fear of pregnancy. This alongside the acceptance of sex before marriage means cohabitation without marriage is likely to occur. This shows that the change in social attitudes towards sex outside of marriage has led to an increase in cohabitation.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Living with Parents vs. Living Alone
    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Living with Parents vs. Living Alone

    Living alone may seem great and be lots of fun, but living alone also has disadvantages. Living alone, teens tend to have more responsibilities than they know. They have to cook and clean on their own, which some young individuals may not know how to do, so they will spend more money on fast foods rather than staying home and cooking. Young individuals who live on their own also have to pay for their utility bills when, on the other hand, if they lived with their parents they wouldn’t have to pay rent or utilities, so it wouldn’t be so stressful for this person to live comfortably. Yet, young individuals living on their own have the freedom to come and go as they…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics