The Mental Health Implications of Emerging Adult Long-Term Cohabitation

Despite the growing prevalence of cohabitation, past attempts to identify mental health outcomes from cohabitation do not differentiate by cohabitation duration. The current study investigated the mental health implications from long-term cohabitation, defined as those lasting more than 3 years. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I compared the average individual mental health scores between time spent single, or time spent in a short-term cohabitation, and time spent in a long-term union. Results indicated that externalizing distress, defined as heavy episodic drinking, was lower during time spent in a long-term cohabitation than it was during time spent single. Unexpectedly, the average emotional distress rates were greater during time spent in a long-term cohabitation than they were during time spent single; men appeared to be driving that effect. Overall, long-term cohabitation did not provide an additional mental health benefit above and beyond short-term cohabitation.