A recent study conducted by the researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia has found that large numbers of young American adults are engaging in 'stayover relationships'.
In these kinds of relationships these people spend three or more nights together each week while they still have the option of going to their own homes.
The findings of the research were published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and were based on the interviews with college-educated adults in committed relationships.
Study author Tyler Jamison, a Doctoral Candidate in the Human Development and Family Studies Department at the University of Missouri, said that there is no specific reason behind these kinds of relationships. One of the reasons is that when couples start living together it becomes difficult for them to break up.
She also said, "There is a gap between the teen years and adulthood during which we don't know much about the dating behaviors of young adults, stayovers are the unique answer to what emerging adults are doing in their relationships". She added that these stayover relationships act as a temporary solution between casual dating and long-term commitments.