Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Sociology

Major Professor

Michael Benson

Committee Members

Neal Shover, Sam Wallace

Abstract

This is a study of violence among cohabiting and married couples based on the Wave II data of the National Survey of Families and Households and is a replication of the Stets (1991) study conducted using the Wave I data. It is predicted that cohabiting couples have higher rates of violence in comparison to their married counterparts. It is also predicted that cohabitors will report higher rates of alcohol consumption in addition to suffering from depression more so than the married couples in this data set. The data for this study come from Wave I, completed in 1988, and Wave II of the National Survey of Families and Households, which was conducted between 1992 and 1994, five years after Wave I. Results show that cohabitors do have higher rates of violence than married couples. In addition, cohabitors exhibit higher rates of alcohol consumption, depression, are younger in age, have less income, and close ties to their family in comparison to their married counterparts. All of these results are consistent with Stets' (1991) analysis and results. Inconsistent with Stets' (1991) results. Wave II cohabiting couples show stronger ties or bond to their partner in comparison to the married couples in this study. In addition, Blacks are not shown in this study to be more likely to cohabit as Stets (1991) found. Logistic regression shows the effect of cohabitation status on couple aggression decreases after control variables are included in the model, but it does not become statistically insignificant. In Stets' (1991) study, the effect of cohabitation status disappeared after controls were introduced.

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