Cohabitation in the United States is loosely defined as two or more people,[1] in an intimate relationship, who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union.
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.
The 2002 National Survey of Family Growth found that more than half of all women aged 15 to 44 have lived with an unmarried partner, and that 65% of American couples who did cohabit got married within 5 years.
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."
Teachman's findings report instead that "It is only women who have more than one intimate premarital relationship who have an elevated risk of marital disruption.
"[13] A 2001 study of 1,000 adults indicated that people who cohabited experienced a divorce rate 50% higher after marriage than those who did not, though this may be correlation and not cause-and-effect.
[32] The charge of "unlawful cohabitation" was used in the late 19th century to enforce the Edmunds Act, and other federal anti-polygamy laws against the Mormons in the Utah Territory, imprisoning more than 1,300 men.
Some modern scholarship suggested the Edmunds Act might be unconstitutional for being in violation of the Free Exercise Clause,[34] although the Supreme Court had repeatedly ruled that neutral laws that happen to impinge on some religious practices are constitutional.
[36][37][38] This decision was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, thus effectively recriminalizing polygamy as a felony.
[40] The Supreme Court of Virginia similarly found the commonwealth's (unenforced[41]) law making fornication (sex between unmarried persons) illegal to be unconstitutional in Martin v. Ziherl.