Work

Health and well-being in cohabitation versus marriage: Are cohabitants’ marriage intentions important?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We investigated the similarities and differences in health and well-being for individuals in cohabiting relationships compared to marriage, enriching the extant literature by differentiating cohabitants with the intention to marry from those with no intention to marry. We used 18 waves of panel data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (n = 2820) and fixed-effects models to examine within-individual differences in general health, mental health, and life satisfaction across different relationship states and transitions among men and women. Differentiating outcomes when respondents are cohabitants with and without intention to marry was important, and our results suggested notable health differences when respondents were cohabiting but likely to marry, cohabiting but not likely to marry, and married. We did not find consistently that being married was associated with the best overall health and well-being. The findings contribute to a growing body of research suggesting that the health and well-being benefits of marriage are also evident when people are cohabiting.

Source: Social Sciences & Humanities Open

DOI: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101488

Authors: Belinda Hewitt, Sergi Vidal

Institutions: The University of Melbourne, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Centre for Demographic Studies

Language: English

Topic: Family Dynamics and Relationships

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,180