Shacking up: Cohabitation in the 1970s

Abstract

The current and lifetime prevalence of heterosexual cohabitation, as well as some correlates of cohabitation, are examined on the basis of data obtained from a nationwide random sample of 2,510 young men. Eighteen percent qf the respondents had lived with a woman fbr six months or more outside the bonds of matrimony, but at the time of the interviews, only 5 percent of the men were cohabiting. While some dif'rences were observed according to age, size of city of residence to age 18, and social class, there was a sizable ethnic difference: 29 percent of the blacks and 16 percent of the whites had cohabited for at least a six month period. It would appear that neither cohabitation nor marriage has reached a peak in terms of prevalence among the young men born in the years 1944 through 1954. For some young men, cohabitation apparently served as a prelude to marriage. The data suggest that for other men, especially those who had experienced marital disruption, cohabitation served as a temporary or permanent alternative to matrimony.