To cohabit or not to cohabit?
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To cohabit or not to cohabit?
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[post_date] => 2024-12-28 07:33:37
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[post_content] => Practice Passage (Question 1-5)
*This passage is the property of Khan Academy and has been reformatted into an AAMC-style interface in their entirety by MedLife Mastery. MedLife Mastery does not endorse and is not an affiliate of Khan Academy.
Family researchers and demographers have examined the association between premarital cohabitation and marriage. Around 2000, the Census Bureau figures showed four million couples living together outside of marriage (not counting homosexual couples), eight times as many as in 1970. Sociological research on cohabitation showed that most cohabitations are short-lived; they typically last for about a year or a little more and then are either transformed into marriages or dissolve. Unlike Nordic countries where cohabitation is a more stable social arrangement, in the US, cohabitation was not found to be a long-term alternative to marriage. Figure 1 shows the probability of a woman’s first cohabitation remaining intact. The numbers were drawn from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, which includes in-home interviews conducted with 12,571 men and women ages 15-44 in the US.
Figure 1: Probability that a woman’s first cohabitation will remain intact (without marriage or disruption) for 1, 3, and 5 years, by race.
In a report published in 2010 on marriage and cohabitation in the US based on the same 2002 survey, researchers found that half of all women between the ages of 15 and 44 had at some point, lived with a partner without being married. In addition, they found that most young couples living together outside of marriage will end up getting married. Figure 2 shows the probability that a first cohabitation becomes a marriage within the first three years.
Figure 2: Probability that a first cohabitation transitions to a marriage within 3 years, by gender and educational attainment: United States, 2002.
As cohabitation becomes more prevalent, sociologists further examine gender differences in the motives and meanings behind cohabitation. Drawing on data from 18 focus groups (n=138) and 54 in-depth interviews with young adults, a new study finds that cohabitation appears to represent greater relationship commitment and greater potential for marriage for women than for men, but for both, the primary motives of cohabitation include spending time together, sharing expenses, and evaluating compatibility. Strong gender differences are also found in how respondents discuss these themes and how they characterize the drawbacks of cohabitation, with men more concerned about loss of freedom and women with delays in marriage.
Sources: US Department of Health and Human Services. (2010).Marriage and Cohabitation in the United States: A Statistical Portrait Based on Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth. Vital and Health Statistics Series 23(28). Huang et. al. (2011). He Says, She Says: Gender and Cohabitation. Journal of Family Issues 32(7): 876-905. Manning, W.D., & Cohen, J.A. (2012). Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution: An Examination of Recent Marriages. Journal of Marriage and Family 74(2): 377-387
[post_title] => To cohabit or not to cohabit?
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[question] => According to Figure 1, which of the following statements is true?
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[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Black women are less likely to dissolve their cohabitation compared to Hispanic women only at the 5 year mark (5 year duration).
The figure does not indicate marriage duration, only the probability of cohabitation dissolution and duration of cohabitation.
In the first year (and third year), black women are less likely to dissolve cohabitation compared to Hispanic or white women.
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[each_answer] => A. On average, in the first year, black women are less likely to dissolve cohabitation than Hispanic women.
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[each_answer] => B. On average, this figure demonstrates how first cohabitations are shorter-lived than first marriages.
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[each_answer] => C. On average, at every time point, 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years, black women are more likely to dissolve cohabitation than Hispanic women.
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[each_answer] => D. On average, the probability of black women remaining in their first cohabiting union for 3 years or more is 44%.
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[1] => Array
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[quiz_unique_key] => 3873426850
[question] => According to the data presented in Figure 2, which of the following is correct?
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[answer] => 3
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
The probability of women with a bachelor’s degree transitioning to marriage after their first cohabitation is 64%.
The probability of women with some college education, high school/GED education, or no high school/GED is respectively 51%, 50%, and 37%.
Therefore, the probability of women with a bachelor’s degree transitioning to marriage after their first cohabitation within three years is greater than women at other educational levels.
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[each_answer] => A. Men at every educational level had a greater probability of having their first cohabitation transition to a marriage within 3 years.
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[each_answer] => B. Men and women with the same educational background are more likely to transition to marriage after cohabitation within 3 years.
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[each_answer] => C. Women with a bachelor’s degree or higher had a much greater probability that their first cohabitations would transition to marriage within 3 years compared to women with less education.
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[each_answer] => D. Men with no high school diploma or GED are more likely to transition to marriage after cohabitation compared to women with no high school diploma or GED within 3 years.
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[quiz_unique_key] => 83407773
[question] => A new study found that premarital cohabitation was in fact not associated with marital instability among men and women. Furthermore, among cohabitors, marital commitment prior to cohabitation (engagement or actual plans for marriage) was tied to lower hazards of marital instability among women. Taking into account these new findings, which of the following is true?
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[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Premarital cohabitation is antecedent, occurring prior to marriage (and marital instability).
Therefore, marriage and marital instability is the outcome or dependent variable.
Cohabitation is the independent variable, marital instability is the dependent variable.
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[each_answer] => A. Cohabitation is likely to end in marital dissolution unless couples have concrete plans for marriage.
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[each_answer] => B. Marital instability is the independent variable, and premarital cohabitation is the dependent variable.
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[each_answer] => C. Marital instability is the dependent variable, and premarital cohabitation is the independent variable.
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[each_answer] => D. Marital instability is positively associated with premarital cohabitation.
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[quiz_unique_key] => 2261298308
[question] => In the study investigating the motivations and meanings behind cohabitation in the passage above, researchers found that there were significant gender differences in what cohabitation represents. Which of the following sociological theory best explains these differences in meaning?
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The study finds gendered differences in the symbolic meaning of cohabitation.
Symbolic interactionism perspective views society as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their own views, and communicate with one another.
The symbolic interactionism theory best explains these differences in the meaning of cohabitation between men and women.
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[each_answer] => A. Functionalism
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[each_answer] => B. Symbolic interactionism
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[each_answer] => C. Conflict theory
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[each_answer] => D. Gendered constructivism
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[quiz_unique_key] => 574431310
[question] => Which of the following is NOT an underlying causal mechanism of how cohabitation may influence marital stability?
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[answer] => 3
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
A causal mechanism in sociology refers to the processes or pathways through which an outcome is brought into being (why or how it happened).
There is a causal mechanism leading from x (cohabitation) to y (marital stability).
Marital dissolution risks being higher for premarital cohabitors compared to non-cohabitors is not a causal mechanism because it does not provide an explanation of the process or path from cohabitation to (positive or negative) marital stability.
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[each_answer] => A. Cohabitation is a type of “trial marriage”, so unions with a poor chance of success are weeded out before they are transformed into marriage, therefore premarital cohabitation more likely positively impacts marital stability.
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[each_answer] => B. Once couples start to cohabit they end up on a fast track toward marriage even without sharing high initial commitment levels, so premarital cohabitation still positively impacts marital stability.
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[each_answer] => C. Marital dissolution risks are always higher for premarital cohabitors than people who married without prior cohabitation, so cohabitation negatively impacts marital stability.
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[each_answer] => D. Cohabitors have a low level of commitment to marriage in general, so if transitioned into marriage, premarital cohabitation may negatively impact marital stability.
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