A Brief Report Comparing Younger and Older Cohabitors

This study examined age variation in relationship quality and stability, plans to marry, and reasons to cohabit among cohabiting adults in the U.S.

The landscape of cohabitation has changed in the past few decades as cohabitation has surged among older adults even as it has plateaued among younger people. Early research revealed key age-related variations in the meaning and relationship dynamics of cohabiting unions, but whether these patterns persist nowadays remains an empirical question.

Data were drawn from the nationally representative 2013 Families and Relationships Survey. The analytic sample was composed of cohabiting adults aged 18-65. Multivariable models investigated age group differences in relationship quality and stability, plans to marry, and reasons to cohabit net of relationship, demographic, and economic factors.

As expected, relationship quality and stability tended to be higher among older than younger cohabitors. Older cohabitors were the least likely to have plans to marry and to view testing marital compatibility as an important reason for cohabiting.

Cohabitation appears to operate differently across the adult life course, functioning primarily as a prelude to marriage or alternative to singlehood earlier in the life course versus an alternative to marriage in later life.