Cohabitation Over the past few decades, there have been many dramatic changes in the values ​​and beliefs Americans have about traditional family structures. People are becoming more and more tolerant of non-traditional families, creating many different family forms that were not seen before the postmodern family era. One of the most important changes in family life over the past fifty years has been cohabitation, or sexual cohabitation between two unmarried people. Being in a cohabiting relationship has become very popular, whether the two people plan to get married or are simply continuing their relationship without any desire or need to get married. There has been a lot of research done on cohabitation and the effects of living with someone before marriage. Personally, my beliefs about cohabitation vary slightly. While I believe it's best to wait until marriage before living with someone, I think there are some cases where cohabitation is fine before marriage. One example where I believe cohabitation could work is due to economic reasons. If the two unmarried people don't yet have enough money to get married or can't afford to live separately, I think cohabitation could still end with good results. That said, I don't think cohabitation will work unless the two people plan to get married in the near future. I don't think living with someone before getting married to "test" the relationship is necessary if they know they want to be together. Cohabitation instead of marriage means you are not 100% committed to the relationship, creating higher divorce rates in the future. Many different types of cohabitation research experiments have been conducted over the past 50 years. While some studies focus on the reasons why cohabitation has become popular, others focus on the effects of cohabitation and how this relates to the longevity and quality of the marriage. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Overall, the searches all revealed the same answer. Researchers call this effect the cohabitation effect, and this is the reasoning that “those who live together before marriage are generally at great risk of marital breakdown and lower marital quality (Schramm 2015).” The cohabitation effect shows that premarital cohabitation is associated with lower marital satisfaction, poorer perceived and observed communication within the marriage, more marital conflict, and a higher rate of infidelity. However, not all marriages that begin with cohabitation will end in divorce. This depends on many factors, and most of them the times the people cohabit and their experiences during that cohabitation are the driving forces behind the divorce Another conclusion of the research is slipping versus deciding. This means that people who cohabit and then get married instead of separating usually slide into deciding marriage instead. This is usually due to cohabitation creating inertia, making it more difficult to end the relationship due to sharing a house or rent , about having a pet and maybe having children together. Sociologist Norval Glenn has called this risk of inaction “premature involvement.” Glenn's central focus was how “early involvement shortens a person's search for the best mate he might otherwise have obtained. If the average person thinks they can get around the fact that the.