Fewer than four-in-ten American adults (38%) now say that sexual relations between a man and woman before marriage is always or almost always wrong compared with nearly six in ten (59%) who say that it is only sometimes or never wrong. Not surprisingly, premarital sex is even more accepted as morally OK by adults who have themselves engaged in it. A recent Pew survey found that about a third of all adults (and more than four-in-ten adults under age 50) have, at some point in their lives, been in a cohabiting relationship with a person to whom they were not married. Among this group only 21% believe that premarital sex is always or usually wrong. Demographically, cohabiters are more likely than the rest of the adult population to be younger, black, and secular rather than religious. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.