Marriage And Cohabitation In The United States

Compared to many Western cultures, the United States’ statistics on marriage, divorce, and cohabitation are all on the rise. Cohabitation occurs more frequently and for shorter periods of time than in many other countries, and while the United States’ rates of divorce are on the rise, one might wonder if there is a connection between the two. McCarthy writes that marriage and cohabitation are both results of long term relationships; however, they have intrinsic differences (McCarthy 119). Outside of a Church ceremony, cohabitation differs from marriage in the general mindset of individualism and the privacy of the relationship.

One major difference between marriage and cohabitation is that cohabitation allows for excessive individualism. Whereas

Marriage is a communal commitment, and those undergoing the sacrament vows to welcome children as gifts and be of service to the common good. In this way, marriage cannot be a personal commitment. It is by nature a public declaration. David Matzko McCarthy discusses the biblical mentality of marriage in his article “Cohabitation and Marriage”. He writes, “Marriage is a biblical sign of Christ’s relationship to the Church and of our social nature as human beings. As such, it is necessarily a communal and public sign. When marriage in our culture becomes, instead, an expression of private options and personal achievements, then the sacrament can no longer draw on common habits and understandings” (McCarthy 125-6). Indeed those who commit to marriage commit to this lifestyle, but it is not the same case for couples who cohabitate. McCarthy discusses the mentality relationships as private matters meant for “personal satisfaction and growth” (McCarthy 123) as opposed to a means for discerning marriage that requires some responsibility and sacrifice. He argues that those who cohabitate do not want to feel obligated to performing social roles that come along with marriage. In this way, marriage and cohabitation are different by the nature of the