High Hopes, Low Success
(Excerpts from National Marriage Project: The State of Our Unions: Social Health of Marriage in America, 2001)

"A special report on young adults in their twenties, based on a national survey conducted by the Gallup Organization, finds that young single adults today are looking for a spouse who will be their soul mate for life."

"Young adults today are searching for a deep emotional and spiritual connection with one person for life."

• "Along with their ambitions for a spouse who meets their needs for emotional closeness and intimacy, these twenty-something singles also aspire to a marriage that lasts a lifetime."
• "Less than half of young singles agree it is important to find a spouse who shares their own religious faith."
• "Marriage is gaining popularity as a Super-Relationship, while other bases, such as economic partnership or parental partnersheep, have receded or disappeared.
• "Young men and women define their economic lives and future in individual terms rather than as part of a marriage partnership."
• "Young women may prefer to invest in portable assets, like education and career development, rather than put all their trust in marriage."

Living Together

Real challenges often lead couples to live together before marriage, including:

• Desire to avoid divorce
• Desire for economic security
• Stability for raising children
• Testing the relationship

Many couples approaching the Church for marriage today are already living together. We are glad that they have decided to join their relationship to the Church. Still, these couples should be made aware of the problems that cohabitating can present for them in the future."

Benefits of Not Cohabitating
(from Faithful to Each Other Forever, Bishop's Committee for Pastoral Research and Practices, NCCB, 1989)