Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion

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This finding looks at the relationship between premarital cohabitation and likelihood of divorce.

Compared to women who had not cohabited prior to their first marriages, those who cohabited with the men they married were more likely to divorce. (Premarital cohabitation was associated with 29 percent increase in the likelihood of divorce). Those who had cohabited with at least two partners were even more likely to divorce. (Premarital cohabitation with two or more partners was associated with an 86 percent increase in the likelihood of divorce). The effect cohabiting with two or more partners on the likelihood of divorce was 44 percent greater than the effect of cohabiting only with their eventual husbands.

Sample or Data Description
Data came from the 1995 National Survey Family Growth, a nationally representative sample of women aged 15 to 45. The analytical sample consisted of 6,577 female respondents who entered their first marriages between 1970 and 1995. Accordingly, the longest marriage duration in the analytical sample was 25 years.

Source
"Premarital Sex, Premarital Cohabitation, and the Risk of Subsequent Marital Dissolution Among Women"
Teachman, Jay
Journal of Marriage and Family Vol. 65, Number 2. May, 2003. Page(s) 444-455.

FindingID: 8857