Situating their argument in the context of the Western world's 500-year
history of marriage, the authors of this work reveal what factors
encourage marriage and cohabitation in a contemporary society where
marriage and the relationships between women and men have changed
dramatically.
While many people still choose to marry without first cohabiting, others
elect to cohabit with varying degrees of commitment or intentions of
eventual marriage. The authors' controversial findings suggest that
family history, religious affiliation, values, projected education,
lifetime earnings, and career aspirations all tip the scales in favor of
either cohabitation or marriage. This book lends new insight into young
adult relationship patterns and will be of interest to sociologists,
historians, and demographers alike.