Marriage "integrates the couple with the larger community" in a way that cohabitation does not, says professor Arland Thornton of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan -- one of the world's leading schools of family sociology -- in his recent book-length examination of the differences in cohabiting and married couples. Therefore, he finds, "the relationships of cohabiters with parents and others are often quite different from the family relationships of married people."
Thornton explains that numerous studies published from the mid-eighties to the 2000s find that "cohabiting unions are generally not entered into with the same commitment to the permanence of the relationship that characterizes entrance into marriage."
And this is not jet the couple's commitment but also the feeling of investment that their friends and family have in the marriage. Others don't have this same feeling of being invested in a cohabiting relationship. Even as cohabiting becomes more common and socially accepted, it has still be shown that cohabiting couples are more likely to be isolated from their circle of friends and family.
Glenn T. Stanton, The Ring Makes All the Difference, p.44
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