Encyclopedia of Sociology

COURTSHIP

racial-ethnic, and religious lines; and, later age at
marriage.

Murstein (1980) reviewed mate-selection schol-
arship from the 1970s and predicted that research-
ers would focus less on the ‘‘old standby’’ variables
such as race, class, and religion and more on the
dynamic aspects of courtship. He was correct.
Some of the major themes that have interested
scholars in recent years are identified below.

Studies of cohabitation included early efforts
to identify its several types (both structural and
motivational). Later studies focused on the effects
of cohabitation on subsequent marital happiness,
satisfaction, and stability. The general finding across
such research is that living with someone prior to
marriage has little or no positive effect. Instead,
most studies show negative effects in terms of
happiness, satisfaction, and stability. This research
has been carried out in the United States, Canada,
and other countries, and although the rates vary,
they are quite uniform in showing that there is a
greater tendency to divorce among those who
have lived with someone (i.e., the future spouse or
any other partner) prior to marriage than among
those who did not previously cohabit. Most schol-
ars point out that either or both of two factors are
probably at work here; first, the less-than-full ac-
ceptance of cohabitation as a lifestyle (implying
less or no social support for those who cohabit),
and second, the kind of persons who choose a
‘‘deviant’’ lifestyle—persons who are risk-takers,
and who are less commitment-oriented. (Howev-
er, see Popenoe 1987 for a different view of co-
habitation in a setting where it is more normative.)

As rates of sexual activity outside of marriage
rose, and as sex was to some extent disengaged
from procreation (since the arrival of the birth
control pill in the 1960s), research and theoretical
interest focused on changes in sexual behavior
and values in courtship. (See Schur 1988 for a
highly negative view of the ‘‘Americanization of
sex.’’) It should be noted that cohabitation appears
to be a ‘‘sexier’’ arrangement than marriage (Call,
Sprecher, and Schwartz 1955), which may account
for why prior cohabitants’ marriages do not meet
their expectations and thus, may be more di-
vorce-prone.

Also on the negative side of the ledger, there is
concern about the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases, including AIDS, and on factors related to

the use or nonuse of ‘‘safe’’ sexual practices. Re-

search continues to examine variations in premari-

tal sexual activity rates and their effects. Frazier

(1994) points out that the AIDS epidemic has not

sidetracked the sexual revolution that began in the

1960s. This is because the forces that fueled the

revolution are still in place, and some are intensify-

ing—’’mobility, democratization, urbanization,

women in the workplace, birth control and other

reproductive interventions, and media prolifera-

tion of sexual images, ideas, and variation’’ (p. 32).

Moreover, cohabitation is increasing as are the

single-person household and single parenthood.

The pursuit of individuality and freedom contin-

ues. Many studies show that women are more

sexual today than at any previous time in this

century, says Frazier. On the positive side, a great-

er openness about sexuality-related information

has occurred. The trend, as Frazier sees it, is away

from the illusions of traditional ideas about ro-

mance and toward a more reality-based under-

standing between men and women. Also positive,

and part of the same revolution, are expanded

definitions of masculinity and femininity as the

trend toward egalitarianism continues.

Unmarried households (i.e., single parenthood)

have lost much of their past stigma, and increased

numbers of women are choosing to remain single

over the (potentially illusory) financial security of

marriage, notes Frazier. This is largely a function

of women’s increased earning capacities in an

expanded set of labor market opportunities.

Along with the strong trend toward later mar-

riages has come declining family size. The U. S.

Department of Commerce (1992) tells us that the

median age at marriage has been rising and in the

1990s was higher than it had been a century earli-

er. One outcome of this is, as noted earlier, a rise

in nonmarital births. Related to this is a rise in the

now considerable rate of child poverty, since wom-

en’s (i.e., single mothers) earnings are not as high

as single fathers or of men in general.

Frazier, Arikian, Benson, Losoff, and Maurer

(1996) report that, among unmarried singles over

age thirty, reasons for remaining single have to do

with barriers as well as choices and that men would

like to marry more than would women. (This

situation is reversed among younger adults, where

women are more interested in marriage than are

men.) Never-married adults want to marry more