"Cohabitation - It's Training for Divorce"--Chuck Colson (1995)

In 1960, there were 90 married couples for every cohabiting couple.

Currently there is one cohabiting couple for every 12 married couples.

By the year 2010, if the present trend continues, there will be 7 married couples for every cohabiting couple.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, unmarried couples account for 5.5 million households in the U.S., 11.5 times the number in 1960.

Today in the U.S., 1 in 3 single women choose to live with their partners before marriage, compared to 1 in 10 in the 1950's (Whitman, 1997).

Today in England, 70% of single women choose to live with their partners before marriage, compared to just 5% in the mid-1960s (Ciavola, 1997).

Today in Sweden there are a little over two married couples for every cohabiting couple.

Today, 50% to 80% of couples coming for marriage in first world countries are living together before marriage (Markey, 1999:3).

More men and women are moving in together, sharing an apartment and a bed without getting married first and doing it more openly today (Waite and Gallagher, 2000:36).

Nearly 50% of those in their 20's and 30's cohabit (Bumpass and Lu 1998; Bumpass and Sweet, 1995; Sweet, 1989). Cohabitation has become the normative experience today.

The median duration of cohabitation is 1.3 years (Bumpass and Lu, 1998; Wu, 1995).

Long-term cohabiting relationships in America are far rarer than successful marriages (Bumpass and Sweet, 1989: 615-25).

Low levels of religious importance/participation are related to higher levels of cohabitation and lower rates of subsequent marriage (Markey, 1999; Krishnan, 1998; Lye and Waldron, 1997; Thornton, Axinn and Hill, 1992; Liefbroer, 1991; Sweet, 1989).

Cohabitation rates are 8.2% for Mormons, 20 to 24% for Protestants, 23.1% for Catholics, 32.5% for Jews, and 44.8% for nonreligious Americans (Mims, 1999).

Cohabitation rates are 4.1% for those aged 15-19, 11.2% for 20-24, 9.8% for 25-29, 7.5% for 30-34, 5.2% for 35-39, and 4.4% for 40-44 years of age (National Center for Health Statistics, 1995). The Census Bureau finds that cohabiting is most popular in the 24-35 age group, with 1.6 million couples. The next highest number of couples--931,000--are in the under-25 age group.

Those not completing high school are nearly twice as likely to cohabit as those completing college. Some 30 to 40% of college students are cohabiting at any given time. 41% of women without a high school diploma cohabit whereas, 26% of women with college degrees cohabit. Marriage for cohabitors is positively related to higher levels of education and economics (Qian, 1998; Bumpass and Lu, 1998; Johnson, 1996; Thornton, Axinn and Teachman, 1995; Willis and Michael, 1994).

If a couple abstains from sex before marriage, they are 29 to 47% more likely to enjoy sex afterward than those who cohabit . Sexual satisfaction rises considerably more after marriage (Hering, 1994:4). More women cohabit than men, but men are more likely to cohabit serially (Bumpass and Sweet, 1989; Teachman and Polanko, 1990).

The majority of cohabitors either breakup or marry within two years (Bumpass, 1994).

The risk of divorce after living together is 40 to 85% higher than the risk of divorce after not living together. In other words, those who live together before marriage are almost twice as likely to divorce than those who did not live together (Bumpass and Sweet, 1995; Hall and Zhao, 1995; Bracher, Santow, Morgan and Russell, 1993; DeMaris and Rao, 1992; Glen, 1990).

50% to 60% of first time cohabitors marry the person with whom they cohabit. 76% report plans to marry their partner, but a lower percentage actually do so (Brown and Booth, 1996; Bumpass and Sweet, 1989).

10% to 30% of cohabitors intend to never marry (Bumpass and Sweet, 1990).

Those who cohabit more than once prior to marriage have much higher rates of later divorce - 26% for women and 19% for men (Brown and Booth, 1996; McManus, 1993; Stets, 1993; Thompson and Colella, 1992).

An indicator of commitment to partner – sexual exclusivity – may be lower of cohabitors after marriage.

Women who cohabited are 3.3 times more likely to have a secondary sex partner after marriage than non-cohabitors (Forste and Tanfer, 1996).

Over a quarter of unmarried mothers are cohabiting at the time of their children's birth (Bumpass, Raley and Sweet, 1995:425-36).

Half of currently married stepfamilies with children began with cohabitation and two-thirds of children entering stepfamilies do so in the setting of cohabitation rather than marriage (Bumpass, Raley and Sweet, 1995:425).

Cohabiting couples have an 80%+ chance that their relationship will end (40% breakup before they marry; the other 40% divorce within 10 years of marrying).

About 40% of cohabiting households have children (U.S. Bureau of Census).

About two-fifths of all children in America spend some time living with their mother and a cohabiting partner (P. Smock, Annual Review of Sociology, 2000).

Those who experience disruption in parental marriages, especially women, are more likely to cohabit (Axinn and Thornton, 1993; Kierman, 1992; Black and Sprenkle, 1991 and Bumpass and Sweet, 1989).

The U.S. Justice Department found that women are 62 times more likely to be assaulted by a live-in boyfriend than by a husband (Colson, 1995).

Cohabiting women have rates of depression 3 times higher than married women (National Institute for Mental Health).

Nearly 25% of cohabiting women suffer from neurotic disorders, compared to 15% of married women.

Cohabiting women are more irritable, anxious, worried and unhappy (Ciavola, 1997).

Four out of every 10 cohabiting couples have children present and of children born to cohabiting couples, only 4 out of 10 will see their parents marry. Those who do marry experience a 50% higher divorce rate (Horn, 1998).

Married people are in better health than those who are divorced, widowed, never-married, or living with a partner. They are also less likely to suffer from health conditions like back pain, headaches, and serious psychological distress. Married people are also less likely to smoke, drink heavily, and be physically inactive.

(CDC, “Marital Status and Health: United States, 1999-2002”)

"The energy which holds a society together is sexual in nature. When a man is devoted to one woman and one family, he is motivated to build, save, protect, plan, and prosper on their behalf. However, when his sexual interests are dispersed and generalized, his effort is invested in the gratification of sensual desires. Any human society is free to display great energy or to enjoy sexual license; but they cannot do both for more than one generation."

(J .D. Unwin, Herald of Holiness, Oct.1, 1976, p. 23).