Living together is just as good as marriage

Over 50 per cent of all marriages between young couples begin with unmarried co-habitation and estimates from the US National Institute of Child Health and Development are that a majority of young men and women will spend some time in a co-habiting relationship. So everybody, almost, is doing it but is co-habiting as emotionally satisfying as marriage?

There was no change in stress levels for men who co-habited. This might be because men are more likely to see co-habiting as a way to test a relationship.

To test this researchers used data from 8,700 people born between 1980 and 1984 who were interviewed every second year from 2000 to 2010. Subjects were asked about their relationship status at every interview as well answering questions designed to assess their level of emotional distress. They also reported how often in the last month they had felt downhearted or “blue”.

By designing the study to take place over a ten year period the researchers could see how changed relationship status affected an individual rather than just comparing married people to those who co-habit.

The findings were that for those entering a first relationship men experienced a reduction in stress only if they entered into marriage. There was no change in stress levels for men who co-habited. This might be because men are more likely to see co-habiting as a way to test a relationship.

Aside from this instance though, men and women who had previous relationships experienced a similar decline in stress levels whether they were co-habiting or married.

All of which really emphasises the point that it is not what marriage brings to you that really matters, it’s what you bring to marriage that counts.