Single and Multiple Cohabitors' Risks of Divorce

Scott T. Yabiku, Arizona State University
Mary H. Benin, Arizona State University

We use the Intergenerational Study of Parents and Children and the National Survey of Families and Households to examine how selection and the experience of single and multiple cohabitations affect the rate of divorce. Compared to prior research that has been primarily based on cross-sectional surveys with retrospective data, we use measures of attitudes toward cohabitation, marriage, and divorce prior to any of those experiences. We examine the effect of single and multiple cohabitations on the rate of divorce in a model while including pre-union attitudes to marriage and families. analyzes suggest that controlling for attitudes toward marriage and divorce before cohabitation reduces the effect of previous cohabitation experiences. However, much of the effect of cohabitation is left unexplained.