For years, it’s been said that couples who live together before marriage are more likely to get divorced. But according to a new government study of 22,000 men and women, this is no longer the case.
About 60 percent of couples live together before marriage. “It’s becoming so common, it’s not surprising it no longer negatively affects marital stability,” said Wendy Manning, co-director of the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
According to the study, couples who lived together while engaged had a 60 percent chance of their marriage lasting 15 years-the same as couples who did not live together before the wedding. But for couples who live together before the proposal? Their marriages were only 53% as likely to reach the 15 year mark.
The study infers that the difference is related to feelings about committment.
