Cohabitation Before Marriage New Norm for Women, Couples Staying Together Longer

For some, it might be simply shocking. But for others, well, it just makes common sense, and it's no surprise that this started becoming the norm since we left the 50s. More and more unmarried couples are living together and even having children before they even broach the subject of marriage. However, a new study shows that unmarried couples who live together are staying together longer than in the past-and more of them are having children, according to the first federal data out Thursday that details just how cohabitation is transforming families across the United States.  

Statistics show that approximately half of women ages 15-44 were more likely to be living in cohabitation with a partner than marriage, according to the report from the National Center for Health Statistics. According to USA Today, for less than one-quarter, the first union was marriage. The report was based on in-person interviews conducted between 2006 and 2010 with 12,279 women ages 15-44.

"Instead of marriage, people are moving into cohabitation as a first union," said demographer Casey Copen, the report's lead author. "It's kind of a ubiquitous phenomenon now."

The study is one of the first from the federal government to give detailed data on how long cohabitating relationships last. The findings include the following:

-- As a first union, 48% of women cohabited with their male partner, up from 43 percent in 2002 and 34 percent in 1995.

-- Twenty-three percent of first unions were marriages, down from 30 percent in 2002 and 39 percent in 1995. The percentage of women who cohabited as a first union increased for all races and ethnic groups, except Asian women. Among Hispanics, the percentage increased 57 percent; for whites, 43 percent; for blacks, 39 percent.

-- Twenty-two months is the median duration of first cohabitation, up from 20 months in 2002 and 13 months in 1995.

-- Nineteen percent of women became pregnant and gave birth in the first year of a first premarital cohabitation.

-- Within three years of cohabiting, 40 percent of women had transitioned to marriage; 32 percent remained living together; 27 percent had broken up.

Researchers believe education plays a huge role in how these romantic relationships develop.

The new data show 70 percent of women without a high school diploma cohabited as a first union, compared with 47 percent of those with a bachelor's degree or higher. Among women ages 22-44 with higher education, their cohabitations were more likely to transition to marriage  (53 percent), compared with 30 percent for those who didn't graduate high school.