There is has been a lot of hard evidence on the negative impact on children of living in divorced and single parent homes, but until recently there wasn't much research on the impact of cohabitation on children and relationships.
A recent policy brief from the Brookings Institution's Center on Children and Families offers some valuable research on the extent and dangers of cohabiting childbearing, and the picture is not pretty.
- In 2004, 36 percent of all births were to unmarried women
- Women who have children outside marriage are less likely to marry, stay married, or marry well
- Between 40 and 50 percent of non-marital births are to cohabiting couples
- Less than 30 percent of poor, cohabiting women marry within five years. And serial cohabitants have even lower rates of marriage
- Cohabiting unions are highly unstable, even if they make it to the altar. Many—perhaps the majority of—cohabiting couples with children who choose marriage will end up divorcing
- Despite high aspirations for marriage—only 15 percent of cohabiting couples married within one year of the birth of their child
- Among cohabiting women, nearly 50 percent of all births are unplanned. These children—especially if unplanned—can be a source of conflict that undermines the health and stability of the relationship
There is a good amount of valuable information in the CFC brief, and given the rapid increase in cohabitation during recent years, there is likely to be a lot more research to come on the subject.
There were also a couple of good posts last week on the subject:
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