Cohabitation, on Children

Young people who cohabit become less eager to have children and more tolerant of divorce, according to a study by researchers William G. Axinn and Jennifer S. Barber of Pennsylvania State University.

Participants in the study were interviewed at 18 and again at 23 with questions about marriage, divorce and preferred family size. None of them had cohabited at the time of the initial interview.

Among the questions were, “If you could have just the number you would like, what number of children would you want to have when your family is completed?” and “If you did not have (answer to question 1) children, would your next choice be (one number lower) or (one number higher)?”

A detailed history was kept of the participants’ living arrangements during the intervening years. By age 23, 43% of the women and 24% of the men had married, and almost 33% of both men and women had cohabited.

In addition, “35% of the women and 39% of the men experienced living in group quarters, 44% of the women and 48% of the men experienced living with housemates, and 23% of the women and 32% of the men experienced living alone.”

The researchers found that “young people who have cohabited desire significantly fewer children and are significantly more approving of divorce than young people who never cohabited.” In addition, “the more months of exposure to cohabitation that young people experienced, the less enthusiastic they were toward marriage and childbearing.” Other non-family living experiences, such as living with unrelated housemates, did not have these effects.

Is it possible that the participants who cohabited already had a less-favorable view of marriage to start off with? In an interview, Axinn, a professor of sociology, said that “in the social sciences we’re always on difficult ground because we can’t randomly assign people to cohabit or live with their parents.” But, he said, in this study, changes in participants’ views over the course of the study supported the conclusion that cohabitation was having the described effects.

It has been known that, generally speaking, being married leads people to view single life more negatively, the researchers noted. Similarly, surmised Axinn, a professor of sociology, it may be that “cohabitants, who perhaps once looked forward to marriage and children, learn an alternative lifestyle that teaches that marriage and child-rearing are not necessary.”