Abstract

Backround: Cohabitation (living together without marriage) is one of the most extreme forms of premarital relationships which is increasing in metropolis cities. The aim of this article is to study young people's attitude towards cohabitation and factors affecting this. Methods: Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used and eight people in the age group of 27 to 40 years in Tehran were selected by Snowball sampling. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews (on average of 60 minutes). After recording and analyzing interviews by MAXQDA software, 4 main themes, 20 categories and 88 open codes were obtained. Results: Results showed that this lifestyle cannot be a good alternative to marriage because of ruin the most important periods of life and non-improvement in life due to fruitless financial investment on an open-ended relationship, increasing problems in the path of marriage and decreasing the value of marriage and childbearing. Issues such as low- cost lifestyle, easy starting and ending a relationship without the cumbersome customs of marriage and divorce problems have caused relationship without commitment. The social contradictions in accepting cohabitation and legal restrictions have led to the secret relationship, which has caused various stresses and psychological pressures. Conclusion: Due to lack of financial support and parental agreements, this phenomenon is more common in broken families. The main reasons for the reluctance of partners to continue or formalize such a relationship are mistrust in the partner and woman`s worthiness to become a mother.