More US couples are cohabiting than ever, according to new figures from the National Centre for Health .jpg)
Statistics.
According to the data, almost half of US women are choosing cohabitation rather than marriage as their “first union”.
The lead author of the study, Casey Copen, said that the figures may represent a new norm for America, since only 23pc of the same age group (15-44) are opting to marry first.
As a first union, 48pc of women cohabited with their male partner, up from 43pc in 2002 and 34pc in 1995.
The figures showed that 23pc of first unions were marriages, down from 30pc in 2002 and 39pc in 1995. The percentage of women who cohabited as a first union increased for all races and ethnic groups, except Asian women. Among Hispanics, the percentage increased 57pc; for whites, 43pc; for blacks, 39pc.
The figures also showed that:
— 22 months is the median duration of first cohabitation, up from 20 months in 2002 and 13 months in 1995.
— 19pc of women became pregnant and gave birth in the first year of a first premarital cohabitation.
— Within three years of cohabiting, 40pc of women had transitioned to marriage; 32pc remained living together; 27pc had broken up.
“The United States has long had the shortest cohabiting relationships of any wealthy nation and now these relationships are lengthening,” says sociologist Andrew Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Demographers say education plays a huge role in how these romantic relationships play out.
The new data show 70pc of women without a high school diploma cohabited as a first union, compared with 47pc of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Among women ages 22-44 with higher education, their cohabitations were more likely to transition to marriage within years (53pc), compared with 30pc for those who didn’t graduate high school.
“What we’re seeing here is the emergence of children within cohabiting unions among the working class and the poor,” Cherlin says. “They have high standards for marriage and they don’t think they can meet them for now, but increasingly, it’s not stopping them from having a child. Having children within cohabiting unions is much more common among everybody but the college educated.”
According to the only piece of Irish research on cohabitation, only one in four cohabiting relationships in Ireland last seven years or more. The rest end in marriage or breakup.