Cohabitation: Just a Phase?

"Shacking up," or cohabitation, has long been both praised as a test drive for marriage and condemned as a replacement.

A new study of cohabitating couples, however, finds that neither of these depictions is accurate. Instead, one researcher says, living together should be recognized as a stage in the dating process in its own right, and often a precursor to nuptials.

Susan Sassler, a sociology professor at Ohio State University, interviewed undergraduate and graduate students who had been living with a romantic partner for at least three months. When she asked the students why they decided to move in with their partners, and whether they had discussed future plans, fewer than a third of interviewees reported discussing their ideas for the future before making the move. Even fewer had mentioned marriage in their discussions with their partners. And nearly a fifth specifically stated that they weren't using cohabitation as a trial for marriage.

The most commonly cited reasons for moving in together were saving money, convenience and the need for housing.

But that doesn't mean marriage isn't on the horizon for many live-in lovers, says Sassler. While the majority of her subjects hadn't mentioned marriage prior to moving in together, most of them broached the subject within the first two years of cohabitation.