Cohabitation Is a Symptom, Not a Cause
by Sharon Sassler, associate professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University
The New York Times, Opinion Pages/ Room for Debate, August 30, 2011
Numerous studies have found that children on average do less well on a range of outcomes when raised by cohabiting parents rather than in married couples. Cohabiting families are far less stable than married couple families.
But a growing body of evidence suggests that any advantages from marriage are more a result of selection than causation. In other words, the most educated and economically established adults are the most likely to wed, and overwhelmingly defer childbearing until after marriage. The benefits redound to their children. Young adults who have not yet attained the economic or other subjective prerequisites for marriage often cohabit, and may become parents. Different trajectories into marriage and parenthood have reinforced the diverging destinies of children. American children are doing poorly on so many fronts; those concerned with their well-being should focus on the barriers parents face to establishing economically and emotionally stable unions – whether marital or not.
