It's Not You, It's...No, Wait, It's You

A new study shows that cohabitation before marriage causes higher divorce rates:

Those who moved in with a mate before engagement or marriage reported significantly lower quality marriages and a greater potential for split-ups than other couples. For instance, about 19 percent of those who cohabited before getting engaged had ever suggested divorce compared with just 12 percent of those who only moved in together after getting engaged and 10 percent of participants who did not cohabit prior to the wedding bells.

“We think there might be a subset of people who live together before they got engaged who might have decided to get married really based on other things in their relationship,” Rhoades told LiveScience, “because they were already living together and less because they really wanted and had decided they wanted a future together.”

So a joint lease or shared ownership of pets could nudge the nuptials for these folks, more than a lifelong commitment to one another.

I have never seen a study like this before. A lot of couples I know live together because it lets them be close to each other and it is cheaper, but at the same time they drive each other crazy because they get tired of being together all of the time.  I did not follow this trend, mostly because I needed a year to live alone after nearly dying from a bad dorm experience (curse you South Quad). I suppose if a couple goes to marriage because it is the logical “next step” after living together, that could be a bad sign.