Couples who live together are more likely to be over 25, not attend religious services, use drugs, be androgynous, and be former married. Some characteristic is related to parental modeling, and the loss of welfare payments to the female single-parent.
Living together before marriage does not seem to increase or decrease the chances of having a happy marriage. With one exception (DeMaris & Leslie, 1984), studies report that couples who lived together before they were married say basically the same things about their marriages in terms of sexual satisfaction, need satisfaction, openness of communication, and negotiation of conflict that couples who did not live together say. Potential benefits of living together include delaying marriage, ending unsatisfactory relationships before marriage, and reducing idealization. Disadvantage of living together include feeling used, tricked, and hostile toward the opposite gender.
Only a small percentage of unmarried-couple households consist of those who are living together as a permanent alternative to marriage. These relationships may cause legal problems if they terminate, because the court are increasingly willing to enforce implied agreement made by live-in.
Trends in living together include greater social tolerance for the pattern and increased parental tolerance for offspring living together.
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