Cohabitation on the Rise Worldwide
-- at the Expense of Marriage

 
What's wrong with cohabitation? This question will be addressed later this week at the World Congress of Families IV in Warsaw, Poland. In addition, UFI has carefully studied this question and devoted its latest publication to the topic of cohabitation.

The frequency of cohabitation -- non-married couples living together -- has increased worldwide in recent decades, including a 10-fold increase in the United States since 1960. Divorce rates are declining while cohabitation rates continue to rise. Despite its growing frequency and acceptance, the practice of cohabiting among unmarried couples is a counterfeit form of marriage that does not serve the best interests of adults, children or society. With the state of marriage as a backdrop, United Families International announces this week the debut of the publication: "Guide to Family Issues: Cohabitation vs. Marriage."

In settling for cohabitation, society erodes the ideal of marriage and offsets the benefits of marriage and parenting. Social engineers around the world are breaking down the family by de-valuing marriage, parental rights and the worth of mothers and fathers. Many well-meaning mayors, city council members, lawmakers, universities and private businesses are unwittingly defining family downward as they incorporate domestic partner benefits. In the process, they encourage cohabitation and its attendant ills while diminishing the institution of traditional marriage.

Relationships sealed by the commitments of marriage are more likely to last, transmit positive values, inculcate personal ethics and strengthen the interpersonal bonds between a man and a woman. A committed marriage relationship is more likely to produce healthy, productive, responsible children -- the most important resource of a nation.

Marriage tends to civilize men, channeling sexual activity toward one woman; obligating them to live and sacrifice for family; and providing the deepest levels of trust, reliability, stability, joy and affirmation.

Women tend to fare better in marriage than in cohabitation. Married women are more likely to receive the provision of intimacy and a secure home, as well as a partner:

who honors, respects and cherishes them;

who assists in the care, nurturing and safeguarding of the children they create together; and

with whom she can model the responsibilities of citizenship.