The question of whether you should live together before marriage is a common one. Many couples believe it’s a great idea to do a trial run to see what it will be like.  The problem with this is that it’s not like being married and having a commitment. When you just live together you can bail EASY, not so once married.

What exactly is a commitment anyway? It’s an agreement that that you both agree to that says you will hang in there no matter what. Through thick and thin, good and bad you’re in it forever. On the other hand, when you live together before marriage it’s simply a living arrangement where you both pay rent, and as long as you’re both happy you will agree to stick it out. If not you can split with no problem.

Another issue that comes up with couples who live together before marriage is that they feel like they have passed inspection and that nothing more is required of them. To top that off they think they can behave any way they want after they’re married since it’s not so easy for their spouse to leave anymore.

As it turns out the divorce rate among those who live together before marriage is higher than their counterparts. The reason they give for this is that living together before marriage has a negative impact on marital stability. Furthermore, it undermines marriage and doing so reduces commitment.

One other interesting thing about this is when couples live together before marriage is that if they have had premarital sex they are twice as likely to have extramarital affairs.

Finally, if you’re thinking about living together before marriage you just might want to rethink it. It may be best to wait until you’re married. After all, if you really want your marriage to last forever why risk a breakup.

If your relationship is in trouble and really are on the verge of a breakup then check out this e-book on the Magic of Making Up.