“Let marriage be held in honor among all.” Hebrews 13:4
Culture tells us that cohabitation is a substitute for marriage. However, God’s Word and social science research say something very different:
• Marriage(without prior cohabitation) has a positive effect on worshiping God regularly.
• Children from always married families are more likely to enter legal marriage as their first union.
• Cohabiting couples are significantly more likely to worship Godless frequently and to think of worship as less important.
• Women who cohabitate more likely to hold favorable views about divorce.
• Early adolescent dating and sexual intercourse increase the likelihood of choosing cohabitation over marriage.
Cohabitation is not a substitute for God’s way. Can you use this information to help your children see marriage as God’s place for sexual relationships?
![](https://catholiclife.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/women-aged-14-44-cohabitations-in-lifetime.jpg)
For links to the research behind these statements, please visit www.marri.us/one-pagers/
*It bears emphasizing that these patterns hold for the groups involved, not for all the individuals who make up each group. There is naturally a wide variation among individuals.
http://marri.us/wp-content/uploads/Is-Cohabitation-Just-as-Good-as-Marriage.pdf