Several people in today's world are living together before they are married. But why? What makes people so eager to move in with each other? Studies have shown that a lot of couples move in together because they hate being away from each other. They want to be with each 24/7 365 days a year. So.. I'm confused.. why not just get married then. Isn't that what you get to do when you're married? Wait, another study has shown that several couples say they cohabitate so that they can test out the relationship and see if they even like it before they commit to it. Interesting. See, many people that cohabitate before marriage think that it's okay because if they try it out first and don't like it, then they can just break up and move on to someone else. They see this as a way of saving the money of a wedding that will end in divorce anyway, or they see it as a way of not breaking each other's hearts if it ends up in divorce. But is that really true?
In my opinion, if you have to live together to "test" the relationship and see if it works, then you clearly don't have enough faith in the relationship and chances are if the faith in the relationship isn't there, then it probably won't work out. It's kinda like that saying "When you know, you know". You shouldn't have to move in together to find out if you really love each other or not.
Here are some statics from research studies that have been done about cohabitation vs. marriage:
1) Married couples have better-quality relationships than cohabitating couples.
2) Rates of violence are higher in cohabitating couples. A woman is 9 times more likely to be killed by her partner when the couple is cohabiting.
3) Those who cohabitate tend to have more health problems and poorer health behavior.
4) Married couples report greater happiness, less depression, higher levels of commitment to the relationship, and better relationships with parents.
5) Married couples reported to have a better sexual relationship and a more frequent sexual relationship.
6) Children that are born into cohabitating households are more likely to have parental separation in their life.
These are only a few examples of things that have shown to be very common between cohabitating and married couples. Cohabitation has been shown to cause many more breakups and heart ache because when it doesn't work out, the couple is even more attached than they were when they weren't living together.
Hope this helps point out the differences between cohabitation and marriage!
Hasta La Vista!
In my opinion, if you have to live together to "test" the relationship and see if it works, then you clearly don't have enough faith in the relationship and chances are if the faith in the relationship isn't there, then it probably won't work out. It's kinda like that saying "When you know, you know". You shouldn't have to move in together to find out if you really love each other or not.
Here are some statics from research studies that have been done about cohabitation vs. marriage:
1) Married couples have better-quality relationships than cohabitating couples.
2) Rates of violence are higher in cohabitating couples. A woman is 9 times more likely to be killed by her partner when the couple is cohabiting.
3) Those who cohabitate tend to have more health problems and poorer health behavior.
4) Married couples report greater happiness, less depression, higher levels of commitment to the relationship, and better relationships with parents.
5) Married couples reported to have a better sexual relationship and a more frequent sexual relationship.
6) Children that are born into cohabitating households are more likely to have parental separation in their life.
These are only a few examples of things that have shown to be very common between cohabitating and married couples. Cohabitation has been shown to cause many more breakups and heart ache because when it doesn't work out, the couple is even more attached than they were when they weren't living together.
Hope this helps point out the differences between cohabitation and marriage!
Hasta La Vista!