LAT is the marital oxymoron for Living Apart Together. LAT relationships are the newest contour in the cultural relief map of marriage and the family.
One out of every 10 British adults, according to a study by researchers at Birkbeck University in London and the University of Bradford and NatCen Social Research, is now in a LAT marriage. And researchers say their data reflects “similar trends” across Western Europe, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.
“Over a fifth of those normally classified as “single’ are actually in a relationship but not living with their partner – which is 9 percent of adults in Britain. This sizable minority has only recently been recognized by social researchers, even though people have long been having relationships without moving in together. In the context of increasing attention to the diversity of ways in which people live and love outside of conventional family, understanding ‘living apart together’ (LAT) relationships is vital for policy makers, practitioners and researchers concerned with couples, families and individual well-being today,” say researchers.
Researchers said that LAT spouses fell into four categories. They are as follows:
Too early: 31 percent said they could not move into together because it was “too early.”
Preference: 30 percent expressed “a preference for not living together, including “wanting to keep their own homes, prioritizing other responsibilities, or children, and ‘just not wanting to live together.’”
Constraint: 19 percent, “most of whom said they couldn’t afford to live together.”
Situational: 12 percent said “their partner had a job or was studying elsewhere, or was living in an institution.”
Researchers found it interesting that only 8 percent of the LAT couples were living apart for work reasons.
