Table 1.

Cohabiting and Married Partners’ Reports of Relationship Quality, Economic Factors, and Demographic Variables: Descriptive Statistics

Variables	NLSY97						Add Health
	Cohabiting Partners			Married Partners			Cohabiting Partners			Married Partners
	M	SD	Range	M	SD	Range	M	SD	Range	M	SD	Range
Reported affectiona	0.78	0.41	0–1	0.85**	0.36	0–1	0.82	0.38	0–1	0.91**	0.29	0–1
Reported conflict	3.49	2.63	0–10	3.21**	2.58	0–10	0.95	1.43	0–4	0.81*	1.31	0–4
Poverty-adjusted household earnings	1.82	1.86	0–29	2.31**	1.79	0–15	1.87	1.75	0–21	2.21**	1.87	0–22.1
Money given by familyb							0.57	0.50	0–1	0.38**	0.49	0–1
No family money received	0.78	0.42	0–1	0.78	0.41	0–1
$1–$500	0.12	0.32	0–1	0.10†	0.29	0–1
More than $500	0.11	0.31	0–1	0.12	0.33	0–1
Received govt. program assistancec	0.36	0.48	0–1	0.33†	0.47	0–1	0.27	0.44	0–1	0.22*	0.42	0–1
Hardship							0.99	1.18	0–6	0.77**	1.13	0–6
Respondent attended colleged	0.33	0.47	0–1	0.39**	0.49	0–1	0.42	0.49	0–1	0.40	0.49	0–1
Enrolled in schoole	0.15	0.36	0–1	0.14	0.34	0–1	0.24	0.43	0–1	0.15**	0.35	0–1
Previously marriedf	0.03	0.18	0–1	0.03	0.16	0–1	0.26	0.44	0–1	0.11**	0.32	0–1
Previously cohabitedg	0.25	0.43	0–1	0.58**	0.49	0–1	0.08	0.26	0–1	0.05*	0.22	0–1
Child living in householdh	0.45	0.50	0–1	0.58**	0.49	0–1	0.29	0.46	0–1	0.53**	0.50	0–1
Length of relationship
Less than 3 months	0.11	0.31	0–1	0.02**	0.15	0–1	0.10	0.30	0–1	0.08†	0.28	0–1
3–12 months	0.27	0.44	0–1	0.13**	0.33	0–1	0.43	0.50	0–1	0.23**	0.42	0–1
Over 1 year	0.62	0.48	0–1	0.85**	0.36	0–1	0.47	0.50	0–1	0.68**	0.47	0–1
Malei	0.45	0.50	0–1	0.39**	0.49	0–1	0.50	0.50	0–1	0.50	0.50	0–1
Respondent’s race/ethnicity
White	0.49	0.50	0–1	0.60**	0.49	0–1	0.63	0.48	0–1	0.71**	0.45	0–1
Black	0.26	0.44	0–1	0.11**	0.33	0–1	0.16	0.36	0–1	0.09**	0.29	0–1
Hispanic	0.23	0.42	0–1	0.26†	0.44	0–1	0.13	0.33	0–1	0.16*	0.36	0–1
Other race/ethnicity	0.03	0.17	0–1	0.03	0.16	0–1	0.08	0.28	0–1	0.04**	0.19	0–1
Age	22.39	1.74	17–26	23.1**	1.51	18–26	22.6	2.96	18–39	23.5**	2.98	18–43
Add Health main respondentj							0.50	0.50	0–1	0.50	0.50	0–1
	n =1,625			n = 1,216			n = 838			n = 864

^aReported affection: 0 = low, 1 = high.

^bMoney given by family: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^cReceived govt. program assistance: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^dRespondent attended college: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^eEnrolled in school: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^fPreviously married: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^gPreviously cohabited: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^hChild living in household: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

ⁱMale: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^jAdd Health main respondent: 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^†p < .10.

^*p < .05.

^**p < .01 (for t-tests comparing means for married versus cohabiting couples within the same data set).