Cohabitation and Marriage: Retrospective and Predictive Comparisons

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Abstract
A nationwide Australian survey was conducted in order (1) to distinguish between married couples who either had or had not cohabited prior to marriage and (2) to distinguish between cohabiting couples who either did or did not marry subsequently. A total of 96 cohabiting couples and 117 married couples completed an omnibus 16-page questionnaire covering a variety of demographic, attitudinal, behavioral and personality domains. Couples were recontacted after an interval of 1 1/2 years to identify the kind and extent of changes during the intervening period. In general, as predicted, marrieds with cohabiting experience and cohabitors who avoided marriage revealed a less traditional pattern of responses (e.g. higher feminism scores, wider sexual experience, less stereotyped division of chores, etc.) than their respective counterparts. It was predicted, and found, that the former couples showed greater evidence of autonomy needs and less evidence of attachment needs than the latter.

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