Living together before Marriage

I am a single parent, I have enjoyed dating, and the occasional sleep over, but I never really thought about living with another man with out being married. I have many friends that live together and eventually got married and then I have some that lived together and never got married. There are studies, which supposedly “prove” that people who have “lived together” are more apt to fail in marriage (get a divorce). However there are other studies that show the opposite that people who have lived together are more likely to stay together than those who have not had that experience.
I read an article by Dr Joyce Brother that said living together increased by 45% between 1970 and 1990. In recent years, approximately 70% of people getting married have lived together. Only about 20%-35% of the people living together end up getting married. Evaluating the situation I have found that there are advantages and disadvantage of living together before marriage.
Some of th...