Does living together make it more likely, or less likely,
for the couple to stay together long-term?

Researchers say :

LESS.

Popular Myth:

"If we live together first,
then we'll reeeeally get to know each other,
just to be absolutely positive it'll work out."

The Cold Hard Truth:

• "Virtually all research has concluded that the chances of divorce are significantly greater for couples who cohabit before marriage than for those who do not."

Source: David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, "Should We Live Together?" (New Brunswick, NJ: National Marriage Project, January 1999).

• "Cohabiting couples report more disagreements, more frequent fights, and lower levels of happiness than married couples."

Source: Susan L. Brown and Alan Booth,"Cohabitation versus marriage: A Comparison of Relationship Quality,"Journal of Marriage and Family 58 (August 1996).

• "Couples who cohabitate before marriage are almost twice as likely to divorce as those who do not."

Source: Alfred DeMaris and K. Vaninadha Rao,
"Premarital Cohabitation and Subsequent Marital Stability in the United States: A Reassessment," Journal of Marriage and the Family 54 (1992)
Cited in David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead,
"Should We Live Together?" (New Brunswick, NJ: National Marriage Project, January 1999).

What do you think?

Note:

• These statistics point to evidence that is correlational, but not necessarily causative.
• According to U.S. Census data, in 1960 approximately 400,000 unmarried couples lived together. In 1997, the count was over 4,000,000.
• Why do these numbers tend to make so many folks mad?