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Executive summary. As in many Western countries, the rise in cohabitation in Australia represents one of the most striking of the many changes to family life that have emerged since the 1970s. Not only is cohabitation now the normative pathway to marriage, but it is also increasingly used as a context for raising a family. While there is considerable evidence suggesting that cohabiting couples are more likely to separate than married couples, much of this research has not assessed whether this applies where children have been born of the cohabiting relationship. Some overseas studies have suggested that children with biological married parents have higher wellbeing than those whose biological parents are cohabiting. Nevertheless, a less favourable picture for those in cohabiting rather than married families has not been apparent across all wellbeing measures examined or in all studies. Based on the data of the first three waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, this paper focused on the wellbeing of young Australian children who were living with their cohabiting or married biological parents or with their sole mother over a four-year period (Wave 1 to Wave 3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]