COHABITATION!!!

     What is the definition of cohabitation? Word net web defines it as "the act of living together and having a sexual relationship (especially without being married)." It seems as if people today have every reason to believe that cohabitation is the best way to select a life partner. Dating is being replaced with cohabitation nowadays. People like to "test the waters" before getting married, so they live together to see if they like each other. The statistics are against this way of finding a partner. It is not the best way for several reasons but people tend to disregard this because they don't want to fully commit or simple don't want to get married.
     Some of the reasons people cohabit is because it is a precursor to marriage, for coresidential purpose, and trial cohabitation. Precursor to marriage means they do it because they will one day get married, so it'll be a good experience. Coresidential daters just don't want to be single, so they do it mostly for practical reasons although they are not thinking of  long-term relationships at the time. Trial cohabitation refers to people who are intending to marry but want to check things out first.While these are understandable reasons, it just takes away from the experience of being married, living together, and figuring things out together. Cohabitation doesn't build trust like in a marriage.
     Some of the statistics for cohabitation compared to marriage are as follow:
1) Married couples report more sex and more satisfying sex.
2) Married couples have a better-quality relationship
3) A women is nine times more likely to be killed by her partner in a cohabiting than in a married relationship.
4) Married couples report greater happiness, less depression, higher levels of commitment to the relationship, and better relationships with parents.
5) Marital unions are more stable and durable
6) Children born to cohabiting parents are five times more likely than those born to married parents to experience parental separation; the instability is higher for white than for black or Hispanic children.
7) Cohabiting-parent families spend more than married-parent families on alcohol and tobacco but less on education.
     These are some things that can help you think twice about cohabitation if you ever get to such a situation. Marriage is a wonderful thing, so don't give up your virtue and integrity by cohabiting.