Unmarried Cohabiting Couples Show Lower Commitment than Married Couples: Study

Thinking about moving in with your girlfriend or boyfriend? Think again.

Unmarried young adult couples living together are not necessarily committed to each other in the long run, a new study by the Rand Corporation found.

The study found that unmarried couples who live together had lower levels of commitment to each other than married couples living together do and are less sure of the permanence of their relationships.

The new study comes after one Rand released in 2006 found that couples who "slide" into relationship and living situations, instead of making their decisions together, were at a higher risk for stress in their relationships and for divorce.

Living with partners led to a 40 percent increase in the likelihood of divorce for unmarried women, The Atlantic reported.

Previous Rand research found that out of the 2,068 cohabiting men and women, 52 percent of men compared to 39 percent of women said they were uncertain of their relationship's long-term stability.

Forty-one percent of men, compared to 26 percent of women, said they were not "completely committed," according to RAND charts obtained by The Atlantic.

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