Changes in the Satisfaction of Cohabitors Relative to Spouses Over Time

Family scholars have noted a gap in subjective well-being of cohabitors relative to spouses and have hypothesized that the size of this “cohabitation gap” varies depending on how far cohabitation has diffused within a society. For the first time we test this hypothesis across time within a single country, Italy, by analyzing 20 cross-sectional nationally-representative surveys collected from 1993 to 2013 by the Italian Institute of Statistics (N = 279,190-partnered young adults). We find that the differences in the assessments of family satisfaction between cohabitors and spouses have eroded over the years, and that there has been no detectable cohabitation gap since 2011. In addition, we illustrate that the weakening of the cohabitation gap is attributable to the diffusion of cohabiting unions within the Italian society.