Religion & Attitudes Toward Cohabitation

This research makes two theoretical arguments that counter one another. These theories are as follows:

1. There is no relationship between a person's level of religiosity and that person's attitudes toward the practice of pre-marital cohabitation.

2. There is a relationship between a person's level of religiosity and that person's attitudes toward the practice of pre-marital cohabitation.

Cohabitation is defined as the practice of unmarried heterosexual couples living together in a common residence (Wu, 1995, p. 212). Cohabitation is, among other things, a public acknowledgment of the existence of an intimate sexual relationship between the members of an unmarried heterosexual couple (Thornton, Axinn, & Hill, 1992, pp. 628-651). While cohabitation is not the only type of intimate nonmarital relationship, cohabitation draws attention because it openly challenges religious proscriptions against premarital or extra marital sexual intimacy, and because some people view the nonconformity of cohabitation as a threat to social stability.

The values of most religions represented in the United States encourage marriage and parenthood (Stolzenberg, Blair-Loy, & Waite, 1995, p. 84). The dogmas of these religions "promote the establishment and maintenance of family relationships" (p. 84). Family relationships imply conventional marriage to the members of thes