Using 3 subsamples of remarried respondents (n =1,583, 971, and 926) in the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study investigates how different types of cohabitation, especially postdivorce cohabitation, affect the timing and quality of remarriage in the United States. Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis indicates that postdivorce cohabitation in general and postdivorce cohabitation with multiple partners in particular delay remarriage. Furthermore, echoing previous research findings on the relationship between premarital cohabitation and relationship quality, the ordered logistic analysis shows that postdivorce cohabitation with a spouse is associated with lower levels of remarital happiness, and postdivorce cohabitation of all types tends to be associated with higher levels of remarital instability. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.

Using survey data from a nationally representative sample, this article explores how marriage timing varies across major religious denominations. Survival analysis indicates that net of statistical controls, Catholics, moderate Protestants, conservative Protestants, and Mormons marry significantly earlier than their unaffiliated counterparts. This holds true for women and men. However, no statistical differences emerge between Jews, liberal Protestants, and the unaffiliated. As surmised, auxiliary statistical tests reveal additional religious subcultural variations: (a) Jews tend to marry later than Catholics, conservative Protestants, and Mormons; (b) Catholics also marry later than conservative Protestants and Mormons; (c) no statistical difference surfaces between Mormons and conservative Protestants; and (d) differences between Catholics and liberal Protestants as well as between Jews and liberal Protestants are statistically negligible. These findings systematically support the denominational subcultural paradigm in the case of marriage timing.

Using objective indicators to measure service/trade center viability, two communities showing significant variation were examined to see if outshopping was associated with these differences. Respondents listed how often they purchased 29 goods and services in the community as compared to shopping elsewhere. Using t-tests and ANOVA, results show that the majority of respondents in both communities shopped for the combined 29 items outside the community, with the more viable community experiencing significantly more outshopping. Though there were unique differences between the communities on specific items, there was no significant difference between the two communities on the 29 items as a whole. Regression analysis showed proximity to a metropolitan area had a positive effect on outshopping even after controlling for personal characteristics of outshoppers and the possibility that hinterland respondents outshopped more than town residents. Higher incomes, employment, non-local employment, males, and a general satisfaction with life were also associated with outshopping.