Editing Cohabitation (section)

===No effect===

A conflicting study, published by the [[National Center for Health Statistics]], with a sample of 12,571 people, concludes that "those who live together after making plans to marry or getting engaged have about the same chances of divorcing as couples who never cohabited before marriage".<ref>{{cite news|author=Jayson, Sharon |date=14 October 2010 |title=Report: Cohabiting has little effect on marriage success |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-03-02-cohabiting02_N.htm}}</ref>

Additionally, William Doherty, a professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota has remarked that in his research he has found that "committed cohabiting relationships seem to confer many of the benefits of marriage".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unmarried.org/experts.html#cohabitation |title=The Experts Speak |publisher=Alternatives to Marriage Project |website=Unmarried.org |access-date=10 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207003408/http://www.unmarried.org/experts.html#cohabitation}}</ref>

A 2003 study by the [[Australian Institute of Family Studies]] found that "The differences in measured outcomes for those from direct and indirect marriages appear to be entirely attributable to other factors."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Premarital cohabitation and subsequent marital stability
|journal=Family Matters
|author1=David de Vaus |author2=Lixia Qu |author3=Ruth Weston
|date=Winter 2003
|issue=65
|pages=34–39
|url=http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fm2003/fm65/dev2.pdf
|publisher=[[Australian Institute of Family Studies]]
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050509194635/http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fm2003/fm65/dev2.pdf
|archive-date=2005-05-09
}}</ref> The study concluded that the evidence suggests that premarital cohabitation has "little impact one way or the other" on the chances of any subsequent marriage surviving.