Sheila Renee Jackson

November 18, 2015

ENG 105-029
Prospectus
When you look at America today and notice the amount of divorces rising among us, you
cant help but wonder, Am I the reason? Some researchers took a look at the leading cause of
divorce and saw that there was a high correlation with divorce and whether or not you lived
together before you were even married. With all the research that was done, it is easy to say that
yes, if you cohabitated before you were married, then the likelihood of divorce rose greatly. Its
not the fact that you are just living together that causes faults in the marriage, but its the
conflicts that happen within that time that you are living together. Most people argue a lot when
they are in that dating stage. When you are cohabitating, that is practically the dating stage and
most fights happen then. They end up being about irrelevant fights, but those are what lead to
people not getting married in the end. People that also cohabitate also put off getting married so
much that it just never happens. This necessarily doesnt mean that the couple doesnt love each
other, they just never got around to tying the knot. They love each other more than ever, other
things were just of more importance than getting married. We can see from the people that we
know around us that getting married is an ultimate goal in our lives, but that is not the case for
everyone. Some just want to become successful without being tied down, and that is okay also.
This is an important controversy today because everyone is asking themselves whether or not
they should even think about getting married anymore. If it werent for those who starting the
cohabitating trend, then this would be quite a serious issue today.

Annotated Bibliography
1.

Larson, Jeffery. "The Verdict on Cohabitation vs. Marriage." The Verdict on Cohabitation

vs. Marriage. Jossey-Bass, 2000. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.

Throughout this article, we are able to see the differences between marriage and
cohabitation. This certain article is mainly siding with the fact that marriage is a better option
because in the end you are bound to the one and only person you love as a partner. Larson also
goes into detail how the relationship with your partner will grow the longer that you are married
as well. The author first starts out by describing how since the 1940s cohabitation has increased
greatly while marriage has decreased slightly. He then discusses how people that chose to
cohabitate, started off wanting to get married after living together for a little while, but put it off
for so long that they just never got around to the marriage part of the relationship. They are also
in favor or marriage instead of life long living together for many other reasons that will be
discussed in the essay.
2.

"Marriage and Cohabitation." Choice Reviews Online 45.11 (2008): n. pag. Print.
Here in this article we are given statistics and facts for the differences between marriage

and cohabitation. We know that marriage is a legal contract within the court of law that binds two
people together. Most people get married in a church, courthouse, or somewhere where there are
witnesses present. With cohabitation, there is no legal binding with the couple unless the state
that they reside in has whats called Common Law Marriage. This is when two people live
together for a certain amount of years and they are considered married in the eyes of the courts.
Once one of the partners passes away, the other one would get all of their belongings because
they are considered married and thats what would happen if they were married in the court of

law. This article goes over this in more detail just explaining that the two ways of being together
are practically the same, cohabitation takes longer and common law is only valid in certain states
in the U.S.
3.

Johansen, Paige. "Marriage vs. Cohabitation." Everyday Life. Demand Media, n.d. Web.

08 Nov. 2015.
Paige Johansen decided to write this article Marriage vs. Cohabitation because she felt
the need to express the rights of each, without taking a side. She explains that when a couple is
married, the spouses are allowed to make financial decisions for the other when they are ill or
cannot physically take care of themselves. They are allowed to do taxes, banking, and other
things related to those categories. When you marry someone, you are willing to let them take
over in this case because you trust them with all of your information. Johansen also discusses
how when a couple is married, they share responsibility of the children that they have together. It
is each others legal rights to do so. When it comes to cohabitation Johansen talks about how
cohabitating leads to divorce most of the time according to statistics. She also explains that those
statistics can change depending on if the couple talks about marriage a great amount during the
cohabitation period. They should constantly be talking about taking that next step in their
marriage in order to maintain that connection to make sure that becoming a married couple is
what they for sure want to do.
4.

"Cohabitation." For Your Marriage. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 5

Sept. 2013. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.

The Catholic Bishops that wrote this article wanted to discuss the bad in cohabitation.
They first start out by stating that 60% of all marriages start out with cohabitating. They then

proceed to say that only half of those relationship end in marriage in the end. People think that if
they live together before marriage that it will help them live a happier marriage than not living
together first. According to the Bishops, this is completely wrong. The Bishops believe that you
shouldnt live together until you are together bound in marriage first. They then proceed to
explain the different things that can go wrong when you cohabitate first. Childrens wellbeing
was greatly discussed is this article. Many people cohabitate and decide to have a family, but are
never married. They said that this could set a bad example for the children in the home when
they dont have parents with a stable relationship.
5.

Sultan, Aisha. "For Live-in Lovers, Breaking up Can Be Worse than a Divorce." Divorce.

Huffington Post, 16 Mar. 2011. Print. 9 Nov. 2015.

Manning and her partner took a look at the marriages that have happened since 1996, and
they saw that many people started to cohabitate then more than ever. They looked at quite a few
marriages in particular to see how the managed to live together before hand and still be able to
stand each other now. They realized that two thirds of those that they were studying had been
cohabitating before they even got married. Manning and her research partner also looked at other
factors including their ages, the amount of schooling each of them had, and the types of families
that each of them grew up in. The thing that was different with their research is that they found
that if the couple has cohabitated or not it is the same when it comes to divorce. The numbers
equaled each other meaning that it didnt matter if they were married first or lived together first.
This led to a bid sigh in relief when they released their findings for all couples across the United
States.
6.

Dahlen, Dr. Barbara Van. "Relationships / Blog." PBS. PBS, 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

This source is a great source to try and argue my argument. It is full of statistics as well to
help determine which is better and to show that this article is reliable. The author believes that it
is a good idea to live together before you are married, but not for too long. He agrees with my
argument that if you live together for too long before youre married, that it could cause you to
not get married at all. He also doesnt see a problem with it, just like me. Living together without
getting married, isnt a big deal but when it comes to getting married, if you cohabitate for too
long beforehand you may never reach that marriage state. This can be very saddening to some
people and so thats why the author of this article wants to inform those who are questioning the
living together process. Bradbury wants everyone who is questioning, to know that statistics and
give his two cents of information before you jump into the decision.
7.

Baker, Maureen, and Vivienne Elizabeth. "Tying The Knot: The Impact Of Formalization

After Long-Term Cohabitation." Journal Of Family Studies 19.3 (2013): 254-266. Academic
Search Complete. Print. 18 Nov. 2015.
This journal entry was founded on the Cline Library database and it helped me find the
views of those who have actually been married, and stayed cohabitating. The research done in
order to write this paper, was they took both types of relationships for those of different sex
relationships and same sex and tested their all-around happiness with each other. This was a
Psychological experiment and it proved to say that both were just as happy whether they were
married, just living together, same sex, or even different sex. All of their happiness ranged in the
same area, with minor differences which didnt affect the data enough to change the results. This
article also showed examples of how they were happy. They showed what they did as a couple,
everything they have accomplished together, and their children, should they have chosen to have
any. It also provided insight to those who were divorced and why they got divorced. It showed

that the divorces had nothing to do with them living together beforehand, just the fact that they
grew apart romantically.
8.

Statistics, National Center For Health. "Marriage and Cohabitation in the United States."

Vital and Health Statistics, Series 23, No. 28 (02/2010) (2010): 9-15. Print.
This excerpt I will be taking from a book written about marriage and cohabitation in the
United States. It was clearly written and I can definitely see how the statistics apply to now even
though the book was written in 2010. The statistics show that families have grown more when
the couple was married. When a couple is married, they are more likely to conceive out of love
because it is in our human nature, and this book defines that clearly. When a couple decides to
only live together, they conceive out of lust for the most part. They could be possible love there,
but people that are cohabitating and become pregnant are most likely to disclose that they would
rather have not gotten pregnant due to the fact that they dont know if the other person is the
one. Those involved in these studies also described who the one was to them.
9.

Duchousen, Kevin. "Should Couples Live Together before Getting Married?" Should

Couples Live Together before Getting Married? Debate.org, 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
When doing research over this controversy, I have only been able to find the sides of
those who are learning and those who teach about the aspects of marriage. None of my research
comes from those who are actually either married or cohabitating until now. Here I found the
comments of those who are in these particular situations and they were able to express
themselves freely about why they chose to do what they are doing now. One comment that really
stood out to me was the fact that someone believes that if you live together and have a family but
are not married, that this could hurt the children. Their reasoning was because they know that

when a child looks up to their parents, they want to mostly be just like them. Most children wont
want to be like their parents, if they see that the parents are not married, and are just living
together instead. They want to be able to have a solid ground to live on in a stable marriage. Not
have to worry about whether or not they should be married to help make living easier for them.
10.

Young, Damon. "Why You Shouldnt Live Together Before Marriage | VSB." VSB Why

You Shouldnt Live Together Before Marriage Comments. N.p., 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
This website shows the truth behind relationships. He comes down to one specific point
throughout his entire article- all relationships come to an end. The end because either they are
uninterested, things come in the way, or someone ends up passing away (young or old). This
helps us come to a conclusion that maybe it doesnt matter if you live with someone without
marriage or marry them in the end. Maybe it is about then and you living in the moment, because
in the end you wont have each other whether married or cohabitating. This is a very good point
because it is very true. It doesnt matter in the end so why is it even a controversy? Why are
people so worried about others business and why cant they just do what they want in their own
relationships. The real question here is why does living together or being married even a topic of
discussion. If someone wants to be married or not is up to them and it shouldnt be up for debate
amongst any other people but themselves.