A recent study by the Journal of Family Psychology claims that 70% of present-day couples shacked up before taking vows. The journal says that living together may lead couples to marry for the wrong reasons; namely simplicity and convenience. Based on telephone surveys of 1,000 married couples conducted by the University of Denver, married couples that lived together prior to engagement reported greater dissatisfaction with marriage.
In our sublimely liberal country that's free of any scarlet letters or stigmas attached to living together before marriage, couples have the choice to live together free of judgment for the most part. A lot of couples I know do this for financial reasons, even if they have no marriage plans on the horizon.
Contrary to the study, some might say that living together before marriage may keep you from marrying the wrong person (and yet another group entirely might say that marriage is an archaic institution that's for the unconscious). This is largely a personal debate, as are most social issues. I have yet to form a concrete opinion on this matter, because I've known some couples who have shacked up for better and some for worse. If this is something you're considering, remember that it never hurts hear the facts and stats about something as serious as sharing a residence with someone. You can read more about this issue here. What do YOU think about premarital cohabitation?
Personally, I vote for cohabitation before marriage... but that's just how I did it. My wife and I actually moved in during the engagement in preparation for the wedding. It seemed to work out fine and seriously, I can't imagine being happier with my marriage than I am right now. Its been 18 months so far and we're loving it.
Posted by: Brian | 07/20/2009 at 03:51 AM
Interesting. I guess it's a good idea for engaged couples to take some serious time away from everything else to contemplate why they want to get married before they do so. This may prevent quite a bit of unhappy marriages.
Great article!
Posted by: Christina Crowe | 07/20/2009 at 09:55 AM
I'm still torn on this one! I see both sides of the coin...
Posted by: Lauren | 07/20/2009 at 10:39 AM