Cohabitation at a Marriage Education Conference?

July 1, 2009 - PRLog -- While the conference draws 200 of the world's top marriage and relationship experts and more than 2,000 attendees, this year cohabitation will be in the spotlight, too. Is this a sign that cohabitation has become a new American institution? Dr. John Curtis will be one of a handful experts at Smart Marriages® talking about “Post-Marital America” and why we are becoming a “Cohabitation Nation.”

Orlando, FL--July 1, 2009--Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are the new family role model. While the incidence of celebrities living together is nothing new, there is a interesting new twist. It has gone mainstream, becoming widely accepted and wildly popular among all types of Americans.

“Years of condemnation appear to be backfiring, as many cohabiting couples reject the guilt-laden attempts to discourage their living arrangement. Instead, most cohabiters fear a failed marriage even more than the criticism aimed at those couples who opt to live together,” states Dr. John Curtis, author of the new book, Happily Un-Married: Living Together & Loving It! (Reed, 2009)

Studies show 60% of all couples who marry will cohabit first and rates of cohabitation will skyrocket. Recent surveys find that 75% of 15-18 year-olds believe living together is worthwhile as well as harmless and could be the deciding factor in making a marriage last.

“It’s time we raise our expectations of cohabitation and re-think our attitudes toward those who decide to live together,” Dr. Curtis continues. “There is a commonly held myth that marriage means you will live ‘happily ever-after,’ however, there is no similar assumption of cohabitation. The whispers that ‘it won't last’ only serve to bring about a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Dr. Curtis’s new book, Happily Un-Married: Living Together & Loving It is the first book to take a serious, non-judgmental look at cohabiting couples of all ages. Designed to help these couples strengthen and sustain healthy relationships, Happily Un-Married serves as an important book for anyone who is cohabiting, intends to cohabit, or is interested in learning more about the art of living together and loving it.

The book pinpoints 20 types of cohabiting couples from young and in-love, to pregnant and pressured, and from anti-marriage advocates to seniors who cohabit to protect their pensions or inheritance. Cohabiters are just as likely to live together for convenient sex, as they are to save on taxes. Cohabiting is not just for the twenty-somethings, it is happening among all ages.

Happily Un-Married is available at www.wecohabitate.com and at local bookstores or online at Amazon.com. For more information about Happily Un-Married: Living Together & Loving It, contact Dr. John Curtis at jcurtis@iodinc.com or call 1.828.246.0459.

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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are the new family role model!

We have turned into a Cohabitation Nation, as living together becomes an American institution.