Title

Links between premarital cohabitation and subsequent marital quality, stability, and divorce: A comparison of covenant versus standard marriages

Authors

Authors

S. L. Brown; L. A. Sanchez; S. L. Nock;J. D. Wright

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Soc. Sci. Res.

Keywords

cohabitation; divorce; marital quality; marriage; religion; UNITED-STATES; FAMILY; DISSOLUTION; COMMITMENT; ATTITUDES; UNIONS; TRENDS; POLICY; Sociology

Abstract

We extend prior research on the association between premarital cohabitation and marital outcomes by investigating whether covenant marriage, which entails more stringent requirements for divorce, minimizes the deleterious effects of cohabitation on subsequent marital quality and stability. Using a unique longitudinal data set of covenant and standard newlywed couples in Louisiana, we find that covenant marriage does not modify the effects of premarital cohabitation on marital instability, happiness, dependency, or divorce for either wives or husbands. In fact, once we control for sociodemographic characteristics, premarital relationship factors, and marital factors, the relationships between premarital cohabitation and marital outcomes reduces to non-significance, suggesting that selection factors largely account for the deleterious effects of premarital cohabitation on marital success. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Social Science Research

Volume

35

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2006

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Language

English

First Page

454

Last Page

470

WOS Identifier

WOS:000238405400008

ISSN

0049-089X

Share

COinS