I have never believed in the long-held claim that couples who live together before marriage are more likely to get divorced than couples who waited until marriage to combine households, especially because I've been living with my now-fiancé for a good four years.
The Journal of Marriage and Family recently conducted a study which found that there are few advantages for married couples as far as psychological well-being, health or social ties, compared with unmarried couples living together. The study shows that while there are great benefits to marriage and cohabitation over the single life, these benefits weaken as couples depart the "honeymoon period."
After reading a recent study in Glamour which reexamined the long-propagated myth that couples who live together before marriage have a higher chance of divorce, I felt ridiculously triumphant, wagging my finger in a self-aggrandizing "I told you so" to society at large.
Although we've written about marriage trends in the US, some recent articles about marriage in Asia got my attention. From all the way around the world, marriage is changing and becoming less important.
Have you ever had your parent or grandparent say something like, "Why should he buy the cow when he can get the milk for free?" It's so dehumanizing and silly, but of course they mean well, and you can't completely blame them — that was just their mentality growing up. Moving in together before you were Mr. and Mrs. just didn't happen. Now, it's practically all that happens. And guess what? Turns out, it's not hurting all of us "cows!"
Divorce rates are finally dropping, but that doesn't mean people are forging stronger family units. With fewer people getting married these days, the number of kids living in households with two unmarried parents is on the rise. And, according to new research released today by the National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values, that may be as bad for kids as dealing with a parent's divorce.
Following several years of barely-restrained, insouciant bachelorhood, I'm finally preparing my first move-in with a girlfriend. I've lived alone for years, roommate- and drama-free just as I like it. I haven't had a roommate since my sophomore year of college over 10 years ago, and the only beef either of us ever had with one another was when he woke up from a nap to find I killed his bag of Better Made Red Hot potato chips.
What’s needed to understand the facts and determine if it's possible to create Better Marriages As an advocate of marriage, I pay very close attention to the current information about what’s happening for real people on the marriage front. Truth be told, all of it is a little confusing at times.
It's exciting to move in together, but once you're under the same roof and spending every single night together, will your sex life land in the dumps? Will the proximity take the heat out of the relationship and breed boredom? Will illusions be shattered when you've seen each other in your least attractive moments?
