Because few cohabiting couples are practicing celibacy, it is little wonder that a lot of cohabiting women become pregnant. For unmarried couples in the 25-34 age group, half have children present. Your son and his girlfriend are about to add to these statistics. A couple doesn't have to be married to love one another. Well, not exactly.
Research consistently shows that cohabitation is a very weak family form.
Cohabiting couples break up at much higher rates than do married couples. Although about 40 percent of couples who have a child eventually marry, they are at least 50 percent more likely to divorce than couples who get married before having children. Once a father is no longer living in the household, his involvement with his children declines rapidly. Of the remaining 60 percent, only one in five sleeps even one night per month in the father's home. Overall, only one in six children living absent their fathers sees their father an average of once per week.