Cohabiting spells divorce

Living together before marriage could double your chances of divorce.
New research has found that cohabiting couples who get married are almost twice as likely to get divorced as those who do not live together first.

The research could send a warning sign to celebrity couples such as Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The researchers, from Penn State University in Pittsburgh, believe many unhappy couples simply get married rather than go through the emotional trauma of splitting up their shared possessions.

Claire Dush, who led the study, said: "It can really come down to the couch in many cases. Couples who live together are far more likely to get married simply because it's the easier option.

"Nobody wants the trauma of sorting out who owns what, and it appears a lot of people are happier to simply carry on with a dysfunctional relationship and get married rather than go through a break-up."

The research looked at 1,425 American couples who married between 1981 and 1997. They were asked about their relationship history and marriage status, and the results were compared with marriage statistics for couples between 1964 and 1970, when cohabitation was far less common.

They found that in both groups, cohabiters reported being far less happy and experiencing far more conflict.

In both groups, cohabitees were more likely to divorce. In the couples married in the Eighties and Nineties, those who cohabited were more than twice as likely to have divorced than those who did not.

Dush said: "Popular belief is that living together will improve your ability to choose the right marriage partner. However, it seems the opposite is true.

"One of the surprising things we found is that very little research has been done in this area - given the number of people who cohabit, it was surprising. Perhaps the key to this is 'just don't buy a couch together'."

Paula Hall, a counsellor with Relate, said: "I would say that UK figures would probably not be quite as dramatic as this, and we believe the numbers for divorce might be evenly split here."

The study is published this month in the Journal of Marriage and the Family.