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Cohabiting parents differ from married ones in three big ways

Richard V. Reeves and Eleanor Krause

5 Apr 2017

Two important, largely uncontested facts: Family stability is important for childhood outcomes. Married parents are more likely to stay together than cohabiting ones.

Here are two important, largely uncontested facts:

 

  1. Family stability is important for childhood outcomes. All else equal, children raised in stable families are healthier, better educated, and more likely to avoid poverty than those who experience transitions in family structure.[1]


  1. Married parents are more likely to stay together than cohabiting ones. In fact, two-thirds of cohabiting parents split up before their child reaches age 12, compared with one quarter of married parents:

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