quences. The likeliness of divorce alone with the higher occurrence of depression produces an increase in the chance of domestic violence between cohabitors.(Tolson) The increase in depression, aggression, likelihood of divorce and domestic violence provides strong evidence that the permanence of the cohabitation relationship is bleak, and the possibility of a future marriage to that partner is not only unlikely but undesirable.Obviously, the problems and harmful environment that premarital cohabitation can produce becomes more complex once children are involved. In seven out of every ten cohabiting household, both partners are under the age of forty-five.(Mitchelson 15) According to Popenoe, In 1997, thirty six percent of unmarried-couple households included a child under eighteen….For married couples in the twenty-five to thirty-four age group the percentage with children is higher still, approaching half of all such households. By one recent estimate nearly half of all children today will spend time in a cohabiting family before age sixteen.("Should") Couples who have children from previous relationships should definitely avoid cohabiting for the sake of the children. Children need permanence, stability and familiarity in order to grow up secure and stable. Cohabitation relationships retain the high risk of breaking up and seventy-five percent of children born to cohabiting parents will see them break up before the age of sixteen. This is a large percentage when compared to the fact that only one third of children born to married couples see their parents split.(Popenoe "Should") Popenoe states that one reason for this is that marriage rates have been plummeting and explains that, "In the last decade, the proportion of cohabiting mothers who go on to eventually marry the child’s father declined from fifty-seven percent to forty-four percent."("Should") When married couples with children divorce, and one parent co...
