Cohabitation More Popular and Harmful Than Divorce

Recently, many couples have been choosing to cohabitate with children rather than get married and possibly divorce later. When considering to take the cohabitation route, consider the effects that this may have on your children as they grow older.

The National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values have recently published a report to explain how cohabitation creates instability in the lives of children. The report used data from the National Survey of Family Growth, which stated that 42% of children have lived with cohabiting parents by the age of 12. Less children, 24%, have lived with parents who have divorced.

Parents who cohabitate are actually twice as likely to split up when compared to married parents, according to W. Bradford Wilcox, the director of the National Marriage Project. The difficulties and complications associated with the divorce process may cause married couples to delay divorce or try to stay together.

Another effect of cohabitation, according to related studies, is that children of cohabiting, and unmarried, parents tend to do worse in school and have more psychological problems.

Source: Babble