Measuring Cohabitation in U.S. National Surveys

Abstract

Cohabitation is one of the fastest growing family forms in the United States. It is widespread and continues to increase but has not been consistently measured across surveys. It is important to track the quality of data on cohabitation because it has implications for research on the correlates and consequences of cohabitation for adults and children. Recent rounds of the Current Population Survey (CPS), National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY-97), and National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) provide an opportunity to contrast estimates of cohabitation status and experience using nationally representative data sets and assess the quality of data on cohabitation in these data sets. Results demonstrated that the surveys provide similar estimates of current cohabitation status, except the CPS resulted in lower estimates. In terms of cohabitation experience (i.e., having ever cohabited), Add Health produced higher estimates, whereas both the NSFG and NLSY-97 produced lower estimates. We documented a strong education gradient across all surveys, with lower levels of current cohabitation and cohabitating experience and with increases in educational attainment. Racial/ethnic differences in cohabitation were inconsistent across surveys. We discuss aspects of sampling and measurement that potentially explain differences in estimates. Our findings have implications not only for survey design but also for the interpretation of results based on these four national surveys.

Cohabitation and Marriage: Complexity and Diversity in Union‐Formation Patterns

“…In nationally representative surveys (such as the National Survey of Family Growth [NSFG] or the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health [Add Health]), the criteria used to measure cohabitation can vary. Key differences make findings on cohabitation difficult to compare across surveys (Manning, Joyner, Hemez, & Cupka, ). For example, the Current Population Survey asks questions about a “girlfriend, boyfriend or partner.” The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY‐97) queries about living in “marriage‐like” sexual relationships, but can miss short‐term cohabiting relationships.…”

Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution: A Comment on Rosenfeld and Roesler (2019)

“…Unfortunately, opportunities are limited because the NSFG is the only nationally representative data available to answer this issue across cohorts. Analysis of recent marriage cohorts will be possible as respondents in birth cohort‐based data collections (e.g., National Longitudinal Adolescent Study of Adolescent to Adult Health; National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997) move into the divorcing years (median age of divorce 40) (Anderson, 2017), although caution is needed because the measurement of cohabitation differs across surveys (Manning et al, 2019). Although research in other countries may be instructive, the US context for cohabitation is unique and merits further study.…”

Psychometric Analysis of the Dating Anxiety Scale for Adolescents in Samples of Polish and U.S. Young Adults: Examining the Factor Structure, Measurement Invariance, Item Functioning, and Convergent Validity

“…A similar trend is also evident in Poland, however, Poland is characterized by a low age of at which people enter marriage and a relatively small proportion of marriages ending in divorce (Report on Demographic situation of Poland by the Government Population Council, 2019). Furthermore, whereas cohabitation is one of the fastest growing family forms in the United States and most U.S. young adults cohabitate for some time in their lives (Manning et al, 2019), recent Polish data indicate the declining popularity of informal relationships, for instance in 2018, 5% of Poles chose informal relationships as the best form of life for themselves, compared with only 3% in 2019 (CBOS, 2019).…”