Study: Cohabitation Worse Deal for Women

According to a RAND working paper, "cohabiting young adults have significantly lower levels of commitment than their married peers," writes W. Bradford Wilcox at the Atlantic. "This aversion to commitment is particularly prevalent among young men who live with their partners." The study offers "three cautionary notes for young adults considering moving in together..."

Source: RAND Analysis of Add Health, 2001-2002, based on 2,068 adults age 18-26

Pollard and Harris found that the majority of cohabiting young men do not endorse the maximum indicator of relationship permanence: 52 percent of cohabiting men between ages 18 and 26 are not "almost certain" that their relationship is permanent. Moreover, a large minority (41 percent) of men report that they are not "completely committed" to their live-in girlfriends. By contrast, only 39 percent of cohabiting women in the same age group are not "almost certain" their relationship will go the distance, and only 26 percent say they are not "completely committed". Not surprisingly, the figures above and below also indicate that married women and men are much less likely to exhibit the low levels of commitment characteristic of many cohabiting relationships today.

The three cautionary notes for young adults considering moving in together are:

• Talk about the future. Both parties—but especially women, given the statistical averages—should be aware that their partner may not be committed to a common future.
• Get on the same page. ... given the disparate purposes cohabitation now serves—different people see it variously as a courtship phase, an economical way to save on rent, a venue for convenient sex, a prelude to getting serious, or an alternative to marriage—young adults often end up living with someone who doesn't share their relational goals.
• Don't slide into marriage. ...without common values and a shared sense of commitment, the couples who slide into cohabitation and marriage, instead of purposely deciding to deepen their commitment to one another, are more likely to divorce.