According to a report recently released by the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values and the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, cohabitation, and not divorce, is currently a leading cause behind family instability in the United States.

The report points out that, while divorce has been the leading cause of the breakdown of the family and marriage since the latter half of the 20th Century, that is no longer the case. According to the report, the increase of cohabiting households with children is the "largest unrecognized threat to the quality and stability of children's lives in today's families."

The report provides data to support the increasing role of cohabitation in the lives of children, significantly more of whom will encounter cohabiting parents by the age of 12 than divorced parents.

According to the report, divorces involving children have nearly returned to the same levels they were at before the "divorce revolution" of the 1960s. The number of children living with both parents has decreased, due to the increase of children being born outside of marriage, particularly among cohabiting couples.

The report also argues that cohabiting couples are much less likely to stay together then married couples. Specifically, children of cohabiting couples have a 170 percent greater chance of parents breaking up than children of married couples. In addition, data is presented to support the conclusion that children of cohabiting couples are over three times more likely to experience physical, sexual or emotional abuse than children in homes with their married, biological parents. The report also points out the increased likelihood for social difficulties for children of cohabiting couples.

The bottom line of the report is that the intact, biological, married family structure remains the strongest when compared to other models.

While the report lends strength to the traditional family structure, it is nevertheless true that many families do not have this experience. In regard to divorce, it is sometimes difficult, if not impossible or at least unwise, to avoid. In such cases, families must do the best they can to pick up the pieces when things fall apart.

Source: GlobeNewswire.com, "New Report: Cohabitation, Not Divorce, is Now Driving Rising Rates of Family Instability in America," Institute for American Values, August 16, 2011.