Cohabitation and Children’s Living Arrangements: New Estimates from the United States

Sheela Kennedy, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Larry Bumpass, University of Wisconsin at Madison

This paper examines recent trends in women’s cohabitation and explores the impact of increased cohabitation for children’s living arrangements. The most recent estimates of children’s living arrangements currently date to 1995. Using the 2002 NSFG, we produce new estimates of U.S. family structure from the perspectives of women and children, replicating (as much possible) Bumpass and Lu’s (2000) analysis of the 1995 NSFG. Preliminary findings show continued increases in cohabitation experience for both adults and children. Additional analyses examine whether rising cohabitation has resulted in growing instability in the unions women form and in children’s living arrangements.