Information Related to "Living Together: What Aren't They Telling You?"
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Living Together:
What Aren't They Telling
You?
Millions of people choose to live together outside of marriage, thinking
that will bring them happiness and a stable relationship.
The truth, however, is far different.
by Noel Hornor
It
used to be called living in sin. At one time every U.S. state had laws against
it. Some believe that rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases have applied
a brake to the sexual revolution, but cohabitation—unmarried couples
living together—is one trend that has not slowed.
The 2000 census figures for America show that "3.8 million households ... were classified as unmarried-partner households." This figure is probably lower than the actual number of unmarried partner households because, in an interview, some couples "may describe themselves as roommates, housemates, or friends not related to each other" (America's Families and Living Arrangements, June 2000).
U.S. News & World Report noted that "in America ... cohabiting couples make up ... about 7 percent of the total" of couples living together (March 13, 2000). This was a sevenfold increase from 1970, during the heart of the sexual revolution (Information Please Almanac, 1997, p. 434).
Although living together without the benefit of matrimony carries virtually no social stigma, some still worry about it. Says psychologist and divorce researcher Judith Wallerstein: "What can we do when ... the most common living arrangement nowadays is a household of unmarried people with no children? These numbers are terrifying. But like all massive social change, what's happening is affecting us in ways that we have yet to understand" (The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, 2000, pp. 295-296).
Widespread practice
Living together while unmarried is trendy in other Western nations too. "In Sweden ... nearly all couples cohabit before marrying ... and about half of all births occur to cohabiting, unmarried women" (Andrew Cherlin, Public And Private Families: An Introduction, 1996, p. 245).
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