Individual and Relationship Determinants of Sexual Non-Exclusivity: Comparing Cohabiting, Dating, and Married Emerging Adults
Cohabitation and the Evolving Nature of Intimate and Family Relationships
ISBN: 978-1-80455-419-7, eISBN: 978-1-80455-418-0
Publication date: 8 December 2023
Abstract
The majority of emerging adults in the United States spend time in cohabiting unions. Prior research has suggested that higher levels of sexual non-exclusivity may exist among those in cohabiting relationships compared to marital unions. Although these basic patterns have been explored in prior work, research examining the potential reasons why levels of sexual non-exclusivity differ by union status has been limited. Drawing on a relational perspective and using the fifth wave of data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), the present study found that higher levels of sexual non-exclusivity in cohabiting relationships were explained by intimate relationship characteristics and sexual histories rather than sociodemographic factors, partner heterogamy, or partner- and couple-level drug use. These findings highlighted that understanding the higher rates of sexually non-exclusive experiences in cohabiting relationships, compared to marital relationships, requires attention to specific dynamics of the intimate partnership and prior relational experiences of both partners. The study concluded that cohabitation has a unique place in emerging adults’ relationship landscape and may set the groundwork for future relationship functioning.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by Award Nos. 2009-IJ-CX-0503 and 2010-MU-MU-0031, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice, and in part by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD050959). The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.
Citation
Kaufman-Parks, A.M., Longmore, M.A., Manning, W.D. and Giordano, P.C. (2023), "Individual and Relationship Determinants of Sexual Non-Exclusivity: Comparing Cohabiting, Dating, and Married Emerging Adults", Blair, S.L. and Zhang, Y. (Ed.) Cohabitation and the Evolving Nature of Intimate and Family Relationships (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 24), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-35352023001
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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