ATTITUDES, VALUES, AND ENTRANCE INTO COHABITATIONAL VERSUS MARITAL UNIONS

This article argues that marriage and cohabitation are associated with important differences in work patterns, earnings, treatment of money, use of leisure time, social relations with the extended family, the d ivision of household labor, and fertility. We hypothesize that these d ifferences lead those considering the formation of a household to cons ider their attitudes toward these aspects of life, which appear to be so different in marriage from those in cohabitation. Using data from t he National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, we te st and find support for the hypothesis that the choice between cohabit ation and marriage is affected by attitudes and values toward work, fa mily, use of leisure time, money, and sex roles, as well as values and attitudes toward marriage itself.