• The Changing Nature of Cohabitation
  Presented by: Karen Benjamin Guzzo

• Shared Reality in Courtship: Does it Matter for Marital Success?
  Presented by: April C Wilson, Ted L Huston

• Identifying Predictors of Staying Over Among Emerging Adults
• Presented by: Tyler B. Jamison, Christine M. Proulx

Abstracts

The Changing Nature of Cohabitation

Presented by: Karen Benjamin Guzzo

Cohabitation has become an increasingly common union type and has been extensively studied.  However, traditional demographic approaches to documenting cohabitation focus on measures of central tendency, obscuring the possibility of substantial variation across populations and subgroups.  I expect that there are both more uncommitted transitory unions and more committed long-term unions over time.  Constructing cohabitation cohorts from the 2002 and 2006-2008 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth, this research examines whether there have been changes over time in initial plans to marry and outcomes for cohabiting unions, paying particular attention to cohabitations of short and long duration.

Shared Reality in Courtship: Does it Matter for Marital Success?

Presented by: April C Wilson, Ted L Huston

This study provides evidence that individuals who share similar experiences that are grounded in the features of the courtship are likely to remain married 13.5 years later.  Using logistic regression and path analyses to examine 168 married partners, results suggest that the enduring dynamics model best predicts the pathway for stable marriages, whereas the disillusionment model prefigures divorce.  Specifically, marital stability is foreshadowed when partners a) feel similar amounts of love, b) move toward marriage comparably across the courtship duration, and c) respond negatively when their courtship is characterized by high conflict and frequent downturns in marriage estimations.

Identifying Predictors of Staying Over Among Emerging Adults

Presented by: Tyler B. Jamison, Christine M. Proulx

Several researchers have identified a pattern of behavior called ""staying over"" (also called visiting or part-time cohabitation) in which couples spend the night together frequently while retaining separate residences. Despite its potential role in union formation, little research has been conducted on stayovers. Using a sample of 627 emerging adults, we explored the demographic and attitudinal characteristics that distinguish individuals that stayover from those that do not. Logistic regressions revealed that having positive attitudes about cohabitation, living less than 50% of the time with family, low religiosity, and having ever cohabited fulltime increased the likelihood of participating in stayovers.