Should unmarried couples cohabit before marriage?

In this article, Cohabitation: The marriage enemy, from David Popenoe claims that nowadays cohabitation is commonly accepted by young adults. They think it’s a good way to learn more about each other and to get themselves preapred for marriage in order to prevent from divorce. Also, men and women didn’t have to seek legal or religious permission if they wanted to break up. However, research finds that the risk of divorce actually increased after living together before marriage. Another research also indicates that the risk of domestic violence and child abuse is much greater. David also supports four principles for adults to consider whether they should live together. Above all, David wants to educate young people that they should always make wise choices in liftime mates and in long-term marital commitment.

I think cohabitation is a useful way for couples to know more about each other. Habits are the killer of marriage. Living together helps couples to understand the differences between them and therefore they would have much more time to get used to the habits. However, there are still some advantages of cohabitation. The love may sometimes fade away as time goes by and finally the couple break up. It is said that it takes an impulse to get married. The longer couples live together, the less they will get married. Moreover, if the relationshilp involed children, it would be more complicated. I think it’s a risk to have cohabitation because the future is unknown. If one was lucky, she and her boyfriend would live happily and try to adapt to the differences and in the end get married. If not, it’s destined for her to break up with her boyfriend.