Young adults views of marriage cohabitation and family.

In this paper we report analyses of some of the subjective measures. Specifically we will discuss: 1. Marriage plans and expectations of young adults; 2. their attitudes toward cohabitation; 3. their cohabitation plans and expectations; and 4. differentials in family attitudes among persons by marital and cohabitation status and experience. We will focus attention on respondents who were age 35 and younger when they were interviewed. These are the persons who entered adulthood after 1970 when the rate of cohabitation began to rapidly increase. They account for the great majority of all cohabitation experience reported by respondents in the NSFH. We will pay particular attention to differentials in attitudes and expectations by sex race/ethnicity parental status and education. (excerpt)