Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Stability: A Reassessment of the Canadian Evidence

Rao, K. Vaninadha; White, James M.

doi:10.2307/352514

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…In a couple's own relationship history, the longer and better couples know each other before marriage (Birchnell & Kennard, 1984;Grover, Russel, Schumm, & Paff-Bergen, 1985;Kurdek, 1991Kurdek, , 1993, and choosing not to cohabit before marriage (Janus & Janus, 1993;Kline et al, 2002;Trussel & Rao, 1987) are associated with greater reported relationship satisfaction after marriage. In many Western countries (Sweden, France, Switzerland, West Germany, East Germany, the United States, and Canada), premarital cohabitation is associated with high rates of divorce (DeMaris & Rao, 1992;Hall & Zhao, 1995;Kieran, 2002).…”

Section: Influences On Couple Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Best Practice in Couple Relationship Education

Halford

Markman

Kline

et al. 2003

J Marital Family Therapy

230

236

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Relationship education is widely available to couples and is intended to reduce the prevalence of relationship distress, divorce, and the associated personal and social costs. To realize the potential benefits of couple relationship education, it needs to be evidence-based, offered in ways that attract couples at high-risk for relationship problems, and focused on factors that put couples at high-risk for future relationship problems.

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Section: Influences On Couple Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Best Practice in Couple Relationship Education

Halford

Markman

Kline

et al. 2003

J Marital Family Therapy

230

236

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“…He argued that cohabitation might aid marital stability, even in the early years of marriage, because it delays the age at marriage and allows couples more time to mature. However, Trussell and Rao (1989) noted a fault in White's methodology and concluded that using proper methods, White would have come to the opposite conclusion with the same data-that premarital cohabitation leads to greater risk of subsequent marital dissolution. Using ordinary life table techniques, Wu (2000) found that premarital cohabitation is related to a greater probability of marital dissolution, but the probability is constant over marital duration.…”

Section: The Effect Of Premarital Cohabitation On Marital Stability Omentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cohabiting unions may dissolve by marriage of the couple or by separation 1 , but even when marriage is the result, the relationship often remains unstable, with a greater likelihood of marital breakdown Thornton 1992, 1996;Bennett et al 1988;Lillard et al 1995;Trussell and Rao 1989;Teachman and Polonko 1990;Thomson and Colella 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Premarital Cohabitation on Marital Stability over the Duration of Marriage

Budinski

Trovato

2005

CSP

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Research has shown that premarital cohabitors who eventually marry are more likely to divorce or separate than persons who do not cohabit prior to marriage. This study investigates the possibility that the difference in marital stability between cohabitors and non-cohabitors may change with increasing duration of marriage. Using Canadian 1995 General Social Survey data, various Proportional Hazards Models were specified to compare the marital dissolution risks of cohabitors and non-cohabitors, while controlling for a set of relevant factors. Initially, it was found that both groups had virtually identical dissolution risks. However, further specification of the hazards model indicated that indeed cohabitors have a greater risk of marital dissolution than noncohabitors. Further tests to differentiate between short-and long-term unions indicated that premarital cohabitors have a greater dissolution risk in the first ten years of their union, while non-cohabitors have a greater hazard after ten years of marriage. We discuss these findings in the context of the North American based literature on cohabitation and marriage dissolution, and offer suggestions for further study.Key Words: Cohabitation, marriage, marital dissolution Ronald A. Budinski and Frank Trovato 70 RésuméPlusieurs recherches ont démontré que les couples qui cohabitent avant le mariage et qui finissent par se marier courent un risque plus élevé de divorce ou de séparation que les couples qui ne cohabitent pas avant le mariage. Cette étude examine l'hypothèse que cette différence dans la stabilité des mariages entre les couples cohabitant et les couples non-cohabitant pourrait changer suivant la durée du mariage. En s'appuyant sur les données de l'Enquête sociale générale canadienne de 1995, différents modèles de régression à effet proportionnel ont été spécifiés pour comparer les risques de dissolution des mariages dans les couples cohabitant et les couples non-cohabitant. D'autres études qui ont été menées pour déterminer s'il y avait des différences entre les unions à court terme et les unions à long terme indiquent que les couples cohabitant courent un plus grand risque de dissolution durant les dix premières années de mariage tandis que les couples non-cohabitant courent un plus grand risque après les dix premières années de mariage. Cet article explore ces résultats dans le contexte de la documentation nord-américaine sur la cohabitation et la dissolution des mariages et suggère de nouvelles avenues pour de plus amples études.

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“…Axinn and Thornton (1992), Bumpass, Sweet, and Cherlin (1991), DeMaris and Rao (1992), Schoen (1992), Teachman and Polonko (1990), Teachman, Thomas, and Paasch (1991), and Thomson and Colella (1992) observed the disruptive effect of premarital cohabitation in the US. Balakrishnan et al (1987), Hall and Zhao (1995), and Trussell, Rao, and White (1989) found the same in Canada, Bracher et al (1993) in Australia, Manting (1992) and Klijzing (1992) in the Netherlands, Berrington and Diamond (1999) and Haskey (1992) in Britain, and Kiernan (2002a) and Liefbroer and Dourleijn (2006) in a number of European countries. Indeed, premarital cohabitation is also associated with lower marital satisfaction (Brown and Booth 1996), higher rates of wife infidelity (Forste and Tanfer 1996), and lower commitment to the partnership .…”

Section: Premarital Cohabitation and Divorcementioning

confidence: 89%