A Research Brief on Prospective Marital Expectations among Cohabitors with Initial Marital Intentions

Abstract

Having initial intentions to marry increases cohabitors’ likelihood of marriage, yet some cohabitors with such plans do not marry. One explanation for non-marriage may be that prior union experiences and the challenges of raising shared or stepchildren could temper initially strong marital intentions. Using the 2011–15 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), I examine prospective marital expectations among 531 current cohabitors in short-term unions (≤ 36 months) who report they were engaged or had definite plans to marry at the start of coresidence, focusing on prior union experiences, stepchildren, shared children, and pregnancy. A fifth of current cohabitors with initial marital intentions did not definitely expect to marry their partner, and the odds of definite expectations were lower if respondents’ partners had children from a prior union and higher if respondents were expecting a child. Prior union experiences, shared children, and the respondent’s own prior children were unrelated to expectations.