Families Formed Outside of Marriage

Abstract

ࡗ Families Formed Outside of MarriageCohabitation and childbearing outside of marriage are increasingly common family arrangements in the United States. Cohabitation is becoming more like formal marriage in that both are childrearing institutions. Attempts to study the meaning of families formed outside of marriage face the challenge of studying a moving target because the rapid rise in nonmarital families contributes to new meanings and institutional supports. Among these institutions are state policies that formalize ties between members of nonmarital families. This review summarizes the changing demography of cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing, considers the causes and effects of these changes, and describes some recent policies that formalize the relationship between members of families formed outside of marriage. These policies may affect family members' behavior.Marriage and childbearing within marriage are the centerpiece of family studies. Researchers investigate the formation and dissolution of relationships, the quality of marital and parental relationships, and the effects of marriage and changes in marital status on individuals. Marriage forms alliances between kin groups and allows the exchange of property and other resources. Children are the most important of the resources created in marriage. Individual and family-level processes, such as who marries, who has children and how the children are raised affect reproduction. State

Sexual Promiscuity and Health Issues among Female Undergraduate Students in Adekunle Ajasin University: Counselling Implications

“…Another common trend in the university lifestyle is cohabitation. The finding agrees with Seltzer (2000) that cohabitation is a lifestyle common among young people. In Adekunle Ajasin University, cohabitation is common and most female undergraduates live with the opposite sex under the guise of either receiving or providing financial assistance.…”

“…According to Seltzer (2000), cohabitation is a lifestyle in which an unmarried man and an unmarried woman are involved in a sexual relationship and live together in an informal union. Many students are involved in cohabitation because of so many reasons best known to them.…”

Free to stay, free to leave: Insights from Poland into the meaning of cohabitation

“…Thus, young people view pre-marital cohabitation as a means of improving their chances in future marriage, and of "divorceproofing" their relationship (Manning and Cohen 2012;Kline et al 2004;Thornton and Young-DeMarco 2001). Cohabitation is therefore frequently conceptualized as a "trial marriage" or a "testing period" before marriage (Heuveline and Timberlake 2004;Seltzer 2000;Kiernan 2004). …”

Intending to Marry … Students’ Behavioural Intention Towards Family Forming

“…One of these rapid processes is the growth of non-traditional family forms, especially unmarried cohabitation. The increase of cohabitation is illustrated by the fact that the number of children born out of wedlock has risen (Bumpass and Sweet 1989, Kiernan 2000, Manning and Smock 1995, Paetsch, Bala, Bertrand and Glennon 2004, Perelli-Harris et al 2009, Seltzer 2000 and cohabitation is widely approved in western societies (Berrington 2001, Brown 2000, Seltzer 2000. Therefore, cohabitation can be seen as an equal partner to marriage.…”