The Formation of Cohabiting Unions: New Perspectives from Qualitative Data

Wendy D. Manning, Bowling Green State University
Pamela J. Smock, University of Michigan

Cohabitation has become a normative part of the life course. Scientific knowledge about cohabitation based on surveys is approaching a standstill and we are unlikely to grasp the meaning of cohabitation from quantitative studies alone. We collected 90 in-depth interviews with an evenly divided sample of African American, Latino and White young men and women with recent cohabitation experience. We address the following three questions. First, we examine the process by which cohabiting unions begin, including the language, forethought, and criteria used to define cohabitation. Second, we assess relationship choices at the onset of cohabitation. An assumption is that singles decide whether to marry or cohabit, when in fact marriage may not be part of the calculus. Third, we explore cohabitors’ orientations toward marriage when their unions began. Preliminary results suggest our data are extremely rich and will offer new insights into the processes surrounding the formation of cohabiting unions.