they generally imitate what they encountered.
             A 1991 study by Leora Black and Douglas Sprenkle (1991) compared the attitudes about divorce between young adults who had experienced divorce in their childhood and those from intact homes. The results of this study found that 55% of the divorced group was more favorable to cohabiting before marriage, and were a lot more skeptical about getting married than the intact group. In another study, Bumpass, Martin, and Sweet (1991) found that the rates of disruption were highest among those who married at a young age, those with lower education, and those who cohabited before marriage. It was also found that those who cohabited reported lower quality marriages and lower commitment to the institution of marriage, and that wives who cohabited had more individualistic views of marriage than those whom had not (Thomson & Collela, 1992).
             Some authorities suggest that the reason for such a high divorce rate among those who cohabit is because of emotional insecurity and dependency needs (Newcomb, 1986). Newcomb believes that it is possible that the reason individuals cohabit is because of their need to be with someone, and perhaps as a result of this emotional instability they were quite unhappy about many areas of their life which resulted in more disrupted marriages. In other words, cohabitors might get into a relationship for the need of support but as they develop and mature they realize that they are involved in a destructive relationship.
             Another effect that researchers have linked to cohabitation is the sharp decline in marriage rates and the high rate of marriage postponement. Only about one-half of first cohabitation unions end in marriage, and the longer a couple lives together the less likely it is that they will marry (CLASP, 1998). Patricia Gwartney-Gibbs (1986) studied the characteristics of premarital cohabitors versus non-cohabiting couples. In her study she found that...