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Should Cohabitation Be Encouraged

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SHOULD COHABITATION BE ENCOURAGED?

Cohabitation has become very popular and common among teenagers these days. As stated in the Oxford Dictionary, cohabitation is the act of living in the same house together and having a sexual relationship without any commitments and marriage. In the last several decades, families have changed. Instead of getting married, many people are cohabitating or in simple words prefer living together. Some of these cohabitating couples finally get married. Most of them don’t last as they break up. Eventually very few couples stay together as cohabitants for long. Most couples cohabitates rather than getting married for many reasons. According to Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher (2000), cohabitation’s biggest attraction is the relatively easy exit with few responsibilities. Before cohabitating couples get married and get into a legal union, they may want to test their compatibility. They may also want to maintain their status as single for financial purposes whereas some may also feel that marriage is unnecessary. Although cohabitation is very popular among teenagers these days, it should be discouraged.
Opponents claim that living together or cohabitating will automatically lead or increase the chances for the couple to get married. However living together will not necessarily lead to marriage because many cohabitating couples often break up. Every person has a different view on cohabitation. Rather than a preparation, cohabitation is often viewed as an alternative to marriage. Cohabiting relationships are very fragile relationships as there is no legal bonding. According to Patricia Morgan (2000) in her book ‘Marriage-lite’, ‘they are always more likely to break up than marriages entered into at the same time, regardless of age or income. On average, cohabitations last less than two years before breaking up or converting to marriage.

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