http://ecp3113-21.fa03.fsu.edu/research_paper/draft/jak_draft.pdf#search='divorce%20rate%20in%20couples%20cohabitate%20before%20marriage'
Ok, well, I found a term paper about cohabitation before marriage correlating to a higher divorce rate, but I can't find their sources. I'll continure to peruse...
I wanted to show some stats to show that there is a relationship there, although whether there's causation is anyones guess.
Edit:
from
http://www.smartmarriages.com/cohabit.html
Quote:
Although the association was stronger a decade or two ago and has diminished in the younger generations, virtually all research on the topic has determined that the chances of divorce ending a marriage preceded by cohabitation are significantly greater than for a marriage not preceded by cohabitation. A 1992 study of 3,300 cases, for example, based on the 1987 National Survey of Families and Households, found that in their marriages prior cohabitors "are estimated to have a hazard of dissolution that is about 46% higher than for noncohabitors." The authors of this study concluded, after reviewing all previous studies, that the enhanced risk of marital disruption following cohabitation "is beginning to take on the status of an empirical generalization."
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The quotes are from this study: Alfred DeMaris and K. Vaninadha Rao. 1992. "Premarital Cohabitation
and Subsequent Marital Stability in the United States: A Reassessment."
Journal of Marriage and the Family 54: 178-190.