Cohabiting, Dating, and Perceived Costs of Marriage: A Model of Marriage Entry

Abstract

ࡗCohabiting, Dating, and Perceived Costs of Marriage: A Model of Marriage EntryThis paper investigates the decision to marry among individuals in cohabiting and steady noncohabiting relationships, with emphasis on the effects of cohabitation in the decision-making process. A model is proposed wherein cohabitation influences the perceived costs and benefits of marriage, which influence intentions and expectations to marry, which influence actual marriage entry. The model is tested using data from the first and second waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. Cohabitation status is found to predict perceived costs and benefits of marriage, and also to predict marriage intentions and expectations. Cost perceptions further predict intentions and expectations among both cohabitors and daters, and perceived costs, intentions, and expectations to marry the partner predict actual marriage behavior. Cohabitation appears to significantly change the context in which decisions about marriage are made in romantic relationships and merits a greater place in the literature on dating and courtship.

A gender perspective on preferences for marriage among cohabitating couples

“…However, we know very little about what men and women who already cohabit actually expect to achieve by transforming their union into a marriage, or their reasons for preferring to remain cohabiters. Only a few authors have addressed this issue (South 1992, Kravdal 1997, McGinnis 2003, Manning and Smock 2005, and with no explicit focus on gender differences.…”

Currently Cohabiting: Relationship Attitudes, Expectations and Outcomes

“…This standpoint reflects much of the broader academic endeavour surrounding cohabitation, which has debated whether cohabitation is a prelude to marriage, or whether it is an alternative to marriage. A body of work has suggested, however, that a more productive line of enquiry might be to view cohabitation as an alternative to being single (Rindfuss and VandenHeuvel, 1990) and/or a progression of an intimate non-co-residential relationship (Casper and Bianchi 2002;McGinnis, 2003). It is also quite possible that each rationale may operate at different points over time for an individual.…”

Men’s economic status and marital transitions of fragile families

“…While educational attainment is associated with marital expectations Sassler and Miller 2011), other indicators of fiscal readiness for marriage, such as working for pay or annual income, often are not McGinnis 2003). Furthermore, McGinnis (2003) uncovered gender distinctions in perceptions of the desirability of marriage; men perceived significantly more costs to marriage than did women, and fewer benefits.…”