Sunday, December 15, 2002

A story published today by the World-Herald reports that according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of unmarried couples in Nebraska who live together has increased sharply since 1990.

In Nebraska, cohabitation rose 90 percent from 1990 to 2000, compared with 72 percent nationally.

In 1990, 31,066 people lived with an unmarried partner in Nebraska. In 2000, the number was 59,074.

The number includes members of same-sex and different-sex couples who told the Census they were "unmarried partners," not roommates.

The 2000 Census also found that cohabitation was growing fastest in the places one might least expect: Midwestern and Bible Belt states. In Iowa, for example, cohabitation rose 84 percent.

Those who cohabit do it for various reasons. Some reject the idea of marriage. Others see living together as a way to test the relationship. Some live together for convenience or financial reasons.

Same-sex couples live together because they are prohibited by law from marrying.

Senior citizens, whose rates of living together are increasing, cohabit rather than marry for financial reasons. Remarriage could jeopardize a pension from a deceased spouse or lead to lower Social Security benefits.

Some researchers have found that those who live together before marriage are more likely to divorce, said Lisa Riley, associate professor of sociology at Creighton University and a researcher with the university's Center for Marriage and Family.

But the divorce rate could be due to other factors, such as drinking or other risky behaviors, which may lead people to cohabit in the first place. The divorce, she said, may have nothing to do with cohabitation itself.