Cohabitation The Love Attitudes Scale’s Six Love Styles Cohabitation: Good Or Bad? Why Does Cohabitation Look That Way?

Hendrick & Hendrick JSPR1993 “Lovers As Friends” The L.A.S. Six Love Styles STORGE 66% FRIENDSHIP LOVE CLOSE FRIENDSHIP BECOMES LOVE + “Love is really a deep friendship, not a mysterious, mystical emotion EROS 34% PASSIONATE LOVE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT + “My lover and I were attracted to each other immediately after we first met.” PRAGMA 17% LOGICAL LOVE COGNITIVE APPRECIATION FOR PARTNER + “It is best to love somebody with a similar background to you.” LUDUS 2% GAME-PLAYING LOVE FLIRTATIOUS AND NOT COMMITTED + “I have sometimes had to keep my two lovers from finding out about each other.” MANIA 2% POSSESSIVE LOVE FEELING OF OWNERSHIP OVER LOVER + “I cannot relax if I suspect that my lover is with somebody else.” AGAPE 2% SELFLESS LOVE PUTTING ONE’s LOVER ABOVE ONE’S SELF + “I would rather suffer than let my lover suffer.”

Cohabitation: Good or Bad For Society Pew Research Center 2010 Cohabitation: Good or Bad For Society More than 60% of couples live together before getting married

Cohabitation: Good or Bad For The Couple? Cohabitators have higher rates of divorce Cohabitators say it’s more likely they will divorce Cohabitators have more negative communication (verbally aggressive, less supportive) in their marriages Cohabitators have lower levels Infidelity is more common among cohabitators of marital satisfaction Physical violence is more common among cohabitators Cohabitation: Good or Bad For The Couple? More than 60% of couples live together before getting married

Cohabitation: Why Such Bad Outcomes? Selection Who cohabitates matters They’re more liberal and less religious Cohabitation Impermanence Less respect for commitment They believe romantic relationships are disposable Normalization Less stigma for both things They don’t believe either thing is all that bad Sliding vs. Deciding Less thoughtful commitments They “happen into” cohabitation Cohabitation: Why Such Bad Outcomes? More than 60% of couples live together before getting married