pp. 587-607) found that Puerto Rican women residing in the mainland United States are highly likely to enter cohabiting relationships as opposed to legal marriages, and also are highly likely to bear children in cohabiting unions.
For the past several decades in the United States, Black women have been less likely than Anglo women to ever marry (Loomis & Landale, 1994, pp. 950-951). Some evidence exists to indicate "that cohabitation has partially compensated for the decline in marriage among young Black women" (p. 951). The offset between cohabitation and marriage also exists among Anglo women, but not to the extent found among Black women. Subsequent to divorce, Black women also are more likely to enter a cohabiting relationship than are Anglo women. Other evidence indicates that cohabitation is less likely to lead to marriage among Black women than among Anglo women (London, 1990, p. 11). Among pregnant women in cohabiting relationships, the percentage who marry prior to the birth of their f
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