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Cohabitation is an arrangement where two people who are not married live together in a romantic relationship and/or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. "Cohabitation" usually refers to unmarried couples who live together without formally registering their relation as a marriage.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Definition of cohabit )〕 Such arrangements have become increasingly common in Western countries during the past few decades, being led by changing social views, especially regarding marriage, gender roles and religion. More broadly, the term ''cohabitation'' can mean any number of people living together. To "cohabit", in a broad sense, means to "coexist".〔 The origin of the term comes from the mid 16th century, from the Latin ''cohabitare'', from co- 'together' + habitare 'dwell'.〔 ==Social changes leading to increase== Today, cohabitation is a common pattern among people in the Western world. In Europe, the Scandinavian countries have been the first to start this leading trend, although many countries have since followed.〔http://paa2011.princeton.edu/papers/110852〕 Mediterranean Europe has traditionally been very conservative, with religion playing a strong role. Until the mid-1990s, cohabitation levels remained low in this region, but have since increased. During the past decades, in Western countries, there has been an increase in unmarried couples cohabiting. Historically, many Western countries have been influenced by Christian doctrines on sex, which opposed unmarried cohabitation. As social mores have changed, such beliefs have become less widely held by the population and some Christian denominations today view cohabitation as a precursor to marriage. Pope Francis has married a cohabiting couple who had children, while former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York John Sentamu have expressed tolerance of cohabitation. In recent decades high rates of participation of women in the workforce, and the widespread availability of highly effective long acting reversible contraceptives has led to women making individual choices over their reproduction with decreased reliance on male partners for financial stability. All these changes favored living arrangement alternatives to marriage.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Non-Marital Cohabitation in Italy )〕 In Central and Eastern Europe, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were major political changes, such as the fall of Communist governments. These societies entered a new era of increased social freedom, less rigid rules, and less authoritarian governments. They interacted with Western Europe and some became members of the European Union. As a result, the patterns of family life have started to change: marriage rates have declined, and marriage was postponed to a later age. Cohabitation and births to unmarried mothers increased, and in some countries the increase was very quick. The ''deinstitutionalization of marriage'' refers to the weakening of the social and legal norms that regulate peoples' behavior in regard to marriage.〔http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3600162?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21104370783487〕 The rise in cohabitation is part of other major social changes such as: higher divorce rate, older age at first marriage and childbearing, and more births outside marriage. Factors such as secularization, increased participation of women in the labor force, changing in the meaning of marriage, risk reduction, individualism, and changing views on sexuality have been cited as contributing to these social changes.〔http://epc2008.princeton.edu/papers/80065〕 There has also been a change in modern sexual ethics, with a focus on consent, rather than marital status (i.e. decriminalization of adultery and fornication; criminalization of marital rape), reflecting new concepts about the role and purpose of sexual interaction, and new conceptualizations of female sexuality and of self-determination. There have been objections against the legal and social regulation of female sexuality; with such regulations being often seen as violations of women's rights.〔High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has called for full respect and recognition of women's autonomy and sexual and reproductive health rights, stating: "Violations of women's human rights are often linked to their sexuality and reproductive role. Women are frequently treated as property, they are sold into marriage, into trafficking, into sexual slavery. (...) In many countries, married women may not refuse to have sexual relations with their husbands, and often have no say in whether they use contraception. (...) Ensuring that women have full autonomy over their bodies is the first crucial step towards achieving substantive equality between women and men. Personal issues - such as when, how and with whom they choose to have sex, and when, how and with whom they choose to have children - are at the heart of living a life in dignity."()〕 In addition, some individuals may feel that marriage is unnecessary or outdated, leading to couples not formalizing their relation.〔 For instance, in the European Values Study (EVS) of 2008, the percentage of respondents who agreed with the assertion that "Marriage is an outdated institution" was 37.5% in Luxembourg, 35.4% in France, 34.3% in Belgium, 31.2% in Spain, 30.5% in Austria, 29.2% in Germany, 27.7% in Switzerland, 27.2% in Bulgaria, 27.0% in the Netherlands, 25.0% in Slovenia.〔() See for each country: Variable Description - Family - Q 45.〕 The fact that many couples choose to live together without formalizing their relation is also recognized by the European Union. A 2004 directive forbids EU members from denying entry or residence of partners "with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, duly attested." A reason for the more permissive and less traditional views on cohabitating would be a low sex ratio. A low sex ratio would mean there are many more women than men, resulting in differing societal values and acceptable behaviors. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cohabitation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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