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Manning, Wendy
Cohabitation and Marriage in America
NICHD R03 & R01
Wendy Manning (co-PI) and Pamela Smock (co-PI, University of Michigan) have been studying the implications of marriage, divorce,
childbearing, and unmarried cohabitation among diverse populations in the contemporary United States . The current NIH funded
projects aim to study the meaning of cohabitation and marriage. The NIH funds have been used to collect and analyze qualitative
data from focus groups and in-depth interviews. The study includes an emphasis on gender as well as race and ethnicity (Latino,
African American, and non-Latino white men and women). The R03 collected in-depth interview data from 115 respondents with
some cohabitation experience and the R01 includes 138 focus group respondents and 60 dating, cohabiting, and married couples.
The goal of this research is to address three questions: (1) Why and how do cohabiting unions begin? (2) What partner and
parenting roles are assumed in cohabiting unions? (3) Why and how do cohabiting unions end? The objectives for collecting
qualitative data on cohabitation include: to improve understanding of an important new living arrangement affecting increasing
numbers of adults and children; to develop more accurate and richer theories of union formation and union stability; to create
better conceptualizations and measurements of cohabitation; and to facilitate more precise interpretations of findings from
quantitative analyses of survey or Census data.
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