Via the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, a Pew Research executive-summary report shows that, "Among women ages 19-44... 58% had ever lived with an opposite-sex unmarried partner in 2006-2008, up from 33% among a comparable group in 1987..." The article also probes educational and income correlates of different living arrangements. Regarding some key transitions in adulthood, the report notes that:
...cohabitation plays a different role in the lives of adults with and without college degrees. For the most educated, living as an unmarried couple typically is an economically productive way to combine two incomes and is a step toward marriage and childbearing. For adults without college degrees, cohabitation is more likely to be a parallel household arrangement to marriage -- complete with children -- but at a lower economic level than married adults enjoy.
The report focuses on heterosexual couples, but also notes that approximately 400,000 Americans age 30-44 are involved in same-sex unmarried-couple relationships. Many of these individuals may eventually marry their same-sex partners, as this option becomes available in an increasing number of states.
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