19. Making the Transition from Cohabitation: Competing Risks of Marriage and Separation.

Sharing a home with a partner before marriage is an important life transition for an increasing number of young adults in the U.S. Cohabitation serves as an alternative to the more formal bonds of marriage, but cohabitation can also provide a test of compatibility and stability for couples that will later marry. Much research has focused on who cohabits, but many questions remain about the transition out of cohabitation: Who is likely to marry a cohabiting partner? Which couples are at greater risk of separation? Are different types of couples more likely to maintain cohabiting relationships as a substitute for marriage? Previous studies have almost exclusively used the National Survey of Families and Households to investigate these questions. This presentation takes advantage of the more recent, more racially diverse sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, and uses event history analysis techniques to examine the competing risks of marriage and separation among varying groups of cohabiters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]