Making the decision to live with a significant other can be a big commitment. There are many benefits to living with someone you love, but there are also some downsides to making this decision. While some may argue that premarital cohabitation leads to the dissolution of the marriage, I believe that big aspects of premarital cohabitation are understanding whether that person is right for the other, sharing the costs rather than carrying the load individually, and is more widely acceptable to live together before marriage. For starters, premarital cohabitation is a great way to get to know the person you might be thinking of starting a life with in ways that you wouldn't get to know if they were living separately. Wendy Manning found that “nearly 70 percent of high school students reported that living together before marriage is a good way to test compatibility, and rates of cohabitation have increased steadily over the past 30 years” (Journal of Marriage and Family ). If such a large majority of high school students agree that cohabitation determines how you work with your significant other, this must be a big plus for premarital cohabitation. In addition to living with someone else for the benefit of unification, there is the benefit of sharing costs. To elaborate, sharing the cost of living is extremely beneficial in the sense of discussing things that might be potentially uncomfortable to talk about. Splitting costs between two people can also eliminate the problem of feeling like the backbone of the relationship. Sophia Bera, founder of Gen Y Planning, a financial consultancy, says talking about money regularly can help if there are differing opinions on how it should be spent (Maddox). Regularly having a calm, effective conversation about how money is spent can strengthen the relationship and demonstrate that the two can broach potentially sensitive topics. To continue, cohabitation (especially as time goes on) is more common and less frowned upon. America was apparently shaped around a puritanical society, which basically meant that doing anything resembling marriage before marriage was a big no-no. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay With the idea of ​​it being passed down and shaped differently from generation to generation, that idea is still somewhat present but significantly less so. Of course, when most people think of couples living together before marriage, their brains automatically go to premarital sex. For those who have a negative view of this idea, there is even more evidence that it was passed down from a Puritan point of view. “All non-marital and non-reproductive sexual activity was prohibited (referring to Puritan beliefs)” (Wade). Considering that the people who began to shape America were Puritans, their beliefs are almost guaranteed to remain valid over time. However, some may argue that cohabitation before marriage can lead to divorce. Many factors have been shown to be linked to marital dissolution, including women's growing financial independence as their role in the labor market grows and gender wage inequalities gradually decline... changes in gender roles... factors relating to the parental home, including separation...personal characteristics, such as educational qualifications...religious attitudes...the duration of the union...the age of the partners at the time the union was formed... .the age difference between..