Thornton A
Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48106-1248.
Demography. 1988 Nov;25(4):497-508.
Using cohabitation and marriage histories collected in 1985 from 23-year-old women and men, this study investigates the process of union formation, considering transitions from single life into cohabitation and marriage. The outcomes of cohabitation are also considered--both the dissolution of unions and the transformation of cohabiting unions into marriage. These data indicate that large proportions of men and women experience cohabitation fairly early in the life course. At the same time, many cohabiting unions are dissolved fairly quickly and numerous others are soon transformed into marriages. Thus even though cohabitation will be experienced by many, most people will continue to spend substantially more time in marital unions than in cohabiting unions.
本研究利用1985年收集的23岁男性和女性的同居及婚姻史，考察了从单身生活过渡到同居和婚姻的结合过程。研究还考虑了同居的结果，包括同居关系的解除以及同居关系转变为婚姻。这些数据表明，很大比例的男性和女性在人生历程中较早经历同居。与此同时，许多同居关系很快解除，还有许多很快转变为婚姻。因此，尽管许多人会经历同居，但大多数人在婚姻关系中度过的时间仍将大大超过同居关系。
