Wright Matthew R, Brown Susan L, Manning Wendy D, Flowers Madelyn, Ward Jenna M
Department of Sociology, 204D Chapell Wilson Hall, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608.
Department of Sociology, 239 Williams Hall, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403.
J Marriage Fam. 2025 Jun 12. doi: 10.1111/jomf.13128.
This study examined age variation in relationship quality and stability, plans to marry, and reasons to cohabit among cohabiting adults in the U.S.
The landscape of cohabitation has changed in the past few decades as cohabitation has surged among older adults even as it has plateaued among younger people. Early research revealed key age-related variations in the meaning and relationship dynamics of cohabiting unions, but whether these patterns persist nowadays remains an empirical question.
Data were drawn from the nationally representative 2013 Families and Relationships Survey. The analytic sample was composed of cohabiting adults aged 18-65. Multivariable models investigated age group differences in relationship quality and stability, plans to marry, and reasons to cohabit net of relationship, demographic, and economic factors.
As expected, relationship quality and stability tended to be higher among older than younger cohabitors. Older cohabitors were the least likely to have plans to marry and to view testing marital compatibility as an important reason for cohabiting.
Cohabitation appears to operate differently across the adult life course, functioning primarily as a prelude to marriage or alternative to singlehood earlier in the life course versus an alternative to marriage in later life.
本研究考察了美国同居成年人在关系质量与稳定性、结婚计划以及同居原因方面的年龄差异。
在过去几十年里，同居的情况发生了变化，同居现象在老年人中激增，而在年轻人中则趋于平稳。早期研究揭示了同居关系在意义和关系动态方面与年龄相关的关键差异，但这些模式如今是否仍然存在仍是一个实证问题。
数据取自具有全国代表性的2013年家庭与关系调查。分析样本由18至65岁的同居成年人组成。多变量模型研究了在考虑关系、人口统计学和经济因素的情况下，不同年龄组在关系质量与稳定性、结婚计划以及同居原因方面的差异。
正如预期的那样，年龄较大的同居者的关系质量和稳定性往往高于年龄较小的同居者。年龄较大的同居者结婚的计划最少，并且最不可能将测试婚姻兼容性视为同居的重要原因。
同居在成年人的生命历程中似乎有着不同的作用，在生命历程早期主要作为结婚的前奏或单身的替代选择，而在晚年则作为婚姻的替代选择。
