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Cohabitation is an emotionally- and physically-intimate relationship which includes a common living place and which exists without legal or religious sanction. An interpersonal relationship is a relatively long-term association between two or more people Affinity in terms of Sociology, refers to " Kinship of Spirit " interest and other interpersonal commonalities. Attachment in adults deals with the theory of attachment in adult romantic relationships Human bonding refers to the development of a close Interpersonal relationship between family members or friends NOTICE*************** Casual relationship is a term used to describe the physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have a Sexual relationship or a near-sexual relationship without Compersion is a term used by practitioners of Polyamory or Swingers to describe the experience of taking pleasure that one's partner is with another person Concubinage is the state of a woman or youth in an ongoing quasi-matrimonial relationship with a man of higher social status Courtship is the traditional dating period before engagement and marriage Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. A domestic partnership is a legal or Personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by a traditional Not to be confused with Dowry, or with Dour. Dower or morning gift ( Latin doarium, or Latinized A dowry (also known as trousseau or tocher) is the money goods or estate that a woman brings to her soon to be husband in marriage Bride price also known as bride wealth is an amount of Money or Property or Wealth paid by the groom or his family to the Parents of Family denotes a group of People affiliated by consanguinity affinity or co-residence Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more beings Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a Female partner in a non- marital romantic relationship or a female non-intimate Friend A husband is a Male spouse (participant in a Marriage, Civil union or Civil partnership. Infatuation is the state of being completely carried away by unreasoned passion or Love; addictive love The meaning of intimacy varies from relationship to relationship and within a given relationship Limerence, as posited by psychologist Dorothy Tennov, is an involuntary Cognitive and emotional state in which a person feels an intense romantic Love is any of a number of Emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong Affection. NOTICE TO WOULD-BE ROMEOS ************** Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate in a Relationship, thus forming a Couple. Nonmonogamy is a Blanket term covering several different types of Interpersonal relationship in which some or all participants have multiple marital, Passion (from the Latin patior, meaning to suffer or to endure is an emotion of feeling very strongly about a person Pederasty or paederasty refers to an erotic relationship sexually expressed or not between an adolescent boy and an adult male outside his immediate family Amor Platonicus The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino Polyamory (from Greek el πολυ meaning many or several and Latin la amor “love” is the desire practice or acceptance of having more than one Polyfidelity is a form of polyamorous Group marriage wherein all members consider each other to be primary partners and agree to be sexual only with other members The term polygamy (a Greek word meaning "the practice of multiple marriage" is used in related ways in Social anthropology, Sociobiology, and The psychology of monogamy deals with the thoughts feelings and behaviors that commonly occur in monogamous relationships Abuse refers to the use or treatment of something (a person item substance concept or vocabulary that is harmful NOTICE TO WOULD-BE-ROMEOS*************** Legal separation (sometimes "separate maintenance" " divorce a mensa et thoro," or "divorce from bed-and-board" is a possible step towards Human sexual behavior or different human sexual practices encompass a wide range of activities such as strategies to find or attract partners ( Mating and display Serial monogamy is characterized by a series of long- or short-term exclusive Sexual relationships entered into consecutively over the lifespan Sexual orientation is believed to refer to "an enduring pattern of emotional romantic and/or sexual attractions to men women or both sexes NOTICE TO WOULD-BE-ROMEOS*************** A wedding is the Ceremony in which two people are united in Marriage. WIDOW is a full-length Album recorded by British rock band Ritual released in 1983 A wife is a Female spouse or participant in a Marriage, or Civil union or Civil partnership. An intimate relationship is a particularly close Interpersonal relationship.

Couples commonly choose to live together for one or more reasons: wanting to test compatibility or establish financial security before marrying, a desire to live as married when same-sex, interracial, or interreligious marriages are not legal or permitted, living with someone before marriage as a way to avoid divorce, a way for polygamists to avoid anti-polygamy laws, a way to avoid the higher income taxes paid by some two-income married couples (in the United States), negative effects on pension payments (among older people), and seeing little difference between the commitment to live together and the commitment to marriage. Same-sex marriage (also referred to as gay marriage) is a term for a legally or Socially recognized Marriage between two people of the same Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry, often creating Multiracial children Interfaith marriage, traditionally (especially in the Catholic Church) called Mixed marriage, is Marriage (either religious or civil Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. The term polygamy (a Greek word meaning "the practice of multiple marriage" is used in related ways in Social anthropology, Sociobiology, and

Some couples prefer cohabitation because it does not legally commit them for an extended period, and because it is easier to establish and dissolve without the pricey legal costs often associated with a divorce. Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. In some states cohabitations can be viewed legally as common-law marriages, either after the duration of a specified period, or the birth of the couple's child, or if the couple consider and behave accordingly as husband and wife. Common-law marriage (or Common law marriage) sometimes called de facto marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute (This helps provide the surviving partner a legal basis for inheriting the deceased's belongings in the event of the death of their cohabiting partner. )

Today, cohabitation is a common pattern among younger people in the Western world, especially those who desire marriage but whose financial situation temporarily precludes it, or who wish to prepare for what married life will be like before actually getting married. NOTICE TO WOULD-BE ROMEOS ************** More and more couples choose to have long-term relationships without marriage, and cohabitate as a permanent arrangement.

Opposition

Traditionally in the Western world, a man and a woman who lived together without being married were socially shunned and persecuted and potentially prosecuted by law. The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings In some jurisdictions, cohabitation was illegal until quite recently. Other jurisdictions have created a Common-law marriage status when two people of the opposite sex live together for a prescribed period of time. Common-law marriage (or Common law marriage) sometimes called de facto marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute

Opposition to cohabitation comes mainly from conservative religious and family ethics groups. Religious arguments aside, opponents to cohabitation usually argue that living together (as opposed to marriage) is unstable and hence harmful for both partners, as well as for the children (if there are such). According to one argument, the total and unconditional commitment of marriage strengthens a couple's bond and makes the partners feel more secure, more relaxed, and happier than those that have chosen to 'test the waters'. ^[1] Opponents of cohabitation commonly cite statistics that indicate that couples who have lived together before marriage are more likely to divorce, and that unhappiness, ill health, poverty, and domestic violence are more common in unmarried couples than in married ones. ^[2] Cohabitation advocates, in turn, cite limited research that either disproves these claims or indicates that the statistical differences are due to other factors than the fact of cohabitation itself. ^[3]

Cohabitation worldwide

United States

Statistics

In some parts of the United States, there is no legal registration or definition of cohabitation, so demographers have developed various methods of identifying cohabitation and measuring its prevalence. Most important of these is the Census Bureau, which currently describes an "unmarried partner" as "A person age 15 years and over, who is not related to the householder, who shares living quarters, and who has a close personal relationship with the householder. "^[4] Before 1995, the Bureau euphemistically identified any "unrelated" opposite-sex couple living with no other adults as POSSLQs, or Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters. POSSLQ (ˈpɒsəlkjuː is abbreviation (or Acronym) for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters" a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States ^[5], and they still report these numbers to show historical trends. However, such measures should be taken loosely, as researchers report that cohabitation often does not have clear start and end dates, as people move in and out of each other's homes and sometimes do not agree on the definition of their living arrangement at a particular moment in time. ^[6]

As of 2001, in the United States 8. 2% of couples were cohabiting, and the regions where cohabitation were found to be more common is in the New England and West Coast regions. History See also History of New England New England's earliest inhabitants were Algonquian -speaking Native Americans including the The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost ^[7]

In 2005, the U. S. Census Bureau reported 4. The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census as defined in Title) is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census 85 million cohabiting couples, up more than 1,000 percent from 1960, when there were 439,000 such couples. A 2000 study found that more than half of newlyweds lived together, at least briefly, before walking down the aisle.

The cohabiting population is inclusive of all ages, but the average cohabiting age group is between 25-34^[8].

Stability

In one study, Jay Teachman, a researcher at Western Washington University, studied premarital cohabitation of women who are in a monogamous relationship. Western Washington University ( WWU or Western) is one of six state-funded, four-year universities of Higher education in the ^[9] Teachman’s study showed "women who are committed to one relationship, who have both premarital sex and cohabit only with the man they eventually marry, have no higher incidence of divorce than women who abstain from premarital sex and cohabitation. For women in this category, premarital sex and cohabitation with their eventual husband are just two more steps in developing a committed, long-term relationship. "^[10]

Many studies have found that those who live together before marriage have less satisfying marriages and a considerably higher chance of eventually breaking up. One reason is that people who cohabit may be more skittish of commitment and more likely to call it quits when problems arise. But in addition, the very act of living together may lead to attitudes that make happy marriages more difficult. The findings of one recent study, for example, suggest "there may be less motivation for cohabiting partners to develop their conflict resolution and support skills. " (One important exception: cohabiting couples who are already planning to marry each other in the near future have just as good a chance at staying together as couples who don’t live together before marriage). ^[11]

Legal status

Some places, including the state of California, have laws that recognize cohabiting couples as "domestic partners". A domestic partnership is a legal or Personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by a traditional In California, such couples are defined as people who "have chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring," including having a "common residence. "^[12] This recognition led to the creation of a "Domestic Partners Registry", which is available to same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples in which at least one of the partners is age 62 or older, granting them limited legal recognition and some rights similar to those of married couples.

Decades ago, it was illegal in every state for adult lovers to live together without being married. Today, on the other hand, just six (6) states (North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia, Florida, North Dakota and Michigan) still criminalize cohabitation by opposite-sex couples, although anti-cohabitation laws are generally not enforced. ^[13] Many legal scholars believe that in light of in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) such laws making cohabitation illegal are unconstitutional (North Carolina Superior Court judge Benjamin Alford has struck down the North Carolina law on that basis). Lawrence v Texas, 539 US 558 ( 2003) was a landmark United States Supreme Court case Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past Court cases either in special series of books called reporters ^[14]

Europe

• In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, cohabitation is very common; roughly 50% of all children are born into families of unmarried couples, whereas the same figure for several other Western European countries is roughly 10%. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' However many unmarried Scandinavian couples marry later on, when one or more of their children are already born.
• In late 2005, 21% of families in Finland consisted of cohabitating couples (all age groups). Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Of couples with children, 18% were cohabitating^[15]. Of ages 18 and above in 2003, 13. 4% were cohabitating^[16]. Generally, cohabitation amongst Finns is most common for people under 30. Legal obstacles for cohabitation were removed in 1926 in a reform of the Finnish penal code, while the phenomenon was socially accepted much later on among non-Christian Finns. A penal code is a portion of a State 's Laws defining Crimes and specifying the Punishment.
• In the UK, 25% of children are now born to cohabiting parents. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located
• In France, 17. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. 5% of couples were cohabiting as of 1999. ^[7]

Middle East

• The cohabitation rate in Israel is less than 3% of all couples, compared to 8%, on average, in West European countries. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' [1]
• Cohabitation is illegal according to Islamic law (for the countries that follow it)^[17][18]

Asia

• In India, cohabitation is generally taboo. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country However, a small number of young couples in big cities are starting to prefer it. As in other places, people with conservative religious views are opposed to it. Female live in partners have economic rights under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 was brought into force by the Indian government from October 26, 2006.

• In Japan, according to M. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Iwasawa at the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, less than 3% of females between 25-29 are currently cohabiting, but more than 1 in 5 have had some experience of an unmarried partnership, including cohabitation.

• In the Philippines, around 2. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP 4 million Filipinos (18% of population) were cohabitating as of 2004 . The vast majority of them are between the ages of 20-24. Poverty was often the main factor in decision to cohabitate. ^[19]

Pacific

• In Australia, 22% of couples were cohabiting as of 2005. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. See Australian Bureau of Statistics. The Australian Bureau of Statistics ( ABS) is Australia 's national statistical agency.
• In New Zealand, 18. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island 3% of couples were cohabiting as of 2001. ^[7]

North America - other

• In Canada, 16. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page 0% of couples were cohabiting as of 2001 (29. 8. % in Quebec, and 11. 7% in the other provinces). ^[7]

• In Mexico, 18. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. 7% of couples were cohabiting as of 2005. ^[7]

See also

• Family
  • Family law
• Child
  • Illegitimacy
• Interpersonal relationship and Intimate relationship
  • Common-law marriage
  • Divorce
  • Domestic partnership
  • Free union
  • Marriage
  • Pilegesh
• POSSLQ
• Marriage gap
• Living Apart Together

In [2]:

• Ley de sociedad de convivencia: the Spanish name for "Cohabitation Societies Law" (a Wikipedia article not yet translated into English), a legislation created on November 9, 2006, by the Legislation Assembly of Mexico City to establish legal rights and duties for all those cases where two people (due to either sexual, familial or friendly reasons) are living together. Family denotes a group of People affiliated by consanguinity affinity or co-residence Family law is an area of the Law that deals with family-related issues and Domestic relations including but not limited to the nature of CHILD syndrome (or congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform erythroderma and limb defects) is a genetic disorder In Common law, legitimacy is the status of a Child that is born to parents who are legally married to one another or that is born shortly after the An interpersonal relationship is a relatively long-term association between two or more people An intimate relationship is a particularly close Interpersonal relationship. Common-law marriage (or Common law marriage) sometimes called de facto marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. A domestic partnership is a legal or Personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by a traditional This article is about a union between two persons that has no religious or civil recognition NOTICE TO WOULD-BE ROMEOS ************** Pilegesh ( is a Hebrew term for a Concubine with similar Social and Legal standing to a recognized wife often for the purpose of producing POSSLQ (ˈpɒsəlkjuː is abbreviation (or Acronym) for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters" a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States The marriage gap describes observed economic and political disparities between those who are married and those who are single. Living Apart Together (abbreviation LAT is a term for couples who whilst committed to each other decide to have separate homes rather than one shared residence Mexico City (in Spanish: Ciudad de México, México DF, México or simply Méjico) is the Capital city of Mexico

References

External links

• Alternatives to marriage project
• One Plus One
• Married or not