Children can be born at any period before or during a marriage or outside of marriage, and the timing of having children has effects on the relationship quality. Some people get married in order to have children, others get married because the woman is pregnant, others decide to get married even though neither partner wants […]

  Explain what we know about cohabitation outside the United States. Approximately 50% of straight couples who live together will marry within 5 years, 40% will break up, and 10% will continue to live together (Cummins, 2002).   Throughout history, people have had a long-standing love-hate relationship with the institution of marriage. Writers have often […]

Like dating, the terminology of cohabiting is also interesting. Is it “living together,” “shacking up,” “living in sin,” “a test drive,” or “a trial run”? In recent years cohabitation has increased dramatically (Bumpass & Lu, 2000). Today, cohabitation has become so common that many sociologists regard it as a stage of courtship (Seltzer, 2000). More […]

When we picture people making love, we rarely think of two people over the age of 60. In fact, when I show a film on elderly sexuality, many of my students cover their eyes and feel repulsed. Why is this? Why are we so averse to the idea that older people have healthy and satisfying […]

Sexual practices have been changing on college campuses today. “Hooking up” or hav­ing a “friend with benefits” or a “sex buddy” have become more common. Although both men and women report these behaviors are often engaged in purely for the physical plea­sures they provide, the research isn’t so clear cut (Lambert et al., 2003). I […]

f—-yp Ithough marriage rates have been dropping / for several years now, there has been a signifi — U cant decline in marriage among African — American women (Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1995). From 1970 to 1990, the percentage of African-American women over age 18 who were married went from 62% to 43% (Crowder & Tolnay, […]

After a divorce or the death of a spouse, it can be very difficult to get back into the dat­ing scene. Many of these people have been involved in committed relationships for many years; consequently, they find that the dating environment has changed drastically since they were younger. For example, consider a 54-year-old man and […]

o students are your university go on "dates"? One study found that only half of female seniors reported being asked out by a man on six or more dates while at college; and one-third of respondents said they had been on only two or fewer dates (Glenn & Marquardt, 2001). Today, it is much more […]

The problem with discussing dating behavior is that there are no agreed-on words for dif­ferent levels of commitment. “Dating,” “going out,” “hanging out,” “seeing each other”— these terms mean different things to different couples. Even a term such as “engaged” can mean different things—to some it means the wedding date is set; to others it […]

Overall, the research has found that commitment in relationships, whether the re­lationships are between college students in dating relationships or cohabiting or married gay and straight adults, is dependent on how much individual satisfaction there is in the relationship and the cost-benefit ratio of the relationship (Impett et al., 2001). If the benefits of the […]