"Patterns of Premarital Cohabitation among Never-Married Women in the United States"

Abstract

This study examines the patterns of heterosexual cohabitation among 20-to-29-year-old never-married women in the United States, using data from a national sample survey conducted in 1983. First, estimates of the incidence and prevalence of cohabitation are presented; then, cohabitors and noncohabitors are compared on the basis offour groups of variables. Finally, logistic regression models are utilized to examine the factors that are associated with cohabitation. The results indicate that heterosexual cohabitation among never-married women is a common occurrence. The prevalence of cohabitation varies with a number of social, psychological, and demographic variables, and severalfactors differentiate the cohabitors from the noncohabitors. But cohabitation, as now practiced among single women in their twenties, does not appear to be a permanent replacement for marriage. For most women it seems to be a new dimension and a part of the courtship process, but not a long-range lifestyle.