Let's forget the studies pointing out the booze (cohabitors drink more), weight (they're heavier) and happiness (they're not quite as happy as married couples but they aren't more miserable, either), because those aren't the issues. (omgchronicles.vickilarson.com)
On average, she reports, cohabitors begin living together at an earlier age than marrying couples, but «when couples are compared by the age at which they move in together and start taking on the roles associated with marriage, there is no difference in divorce rates between couples that lived together before marriage and those that didn't.» (divorcesource.com)
We identified factors that differentiate cohabitors from daters and tested whether these factors explained the difference in partner abuse. (jstor.org)