1) Why might we expect childbearing to be relatively common within cohabiting unions?
2) How does Manning try to answer the question: "do cohabiting couples marry in order to begin childbearing?"
3) What are some of the most salient differences between the union formation and childbearing experiences of Black and White women?
4) What implications do these racial differences have for her anlayses? In other words, what caveats do we need to keep in mind when evaluating the differences between Blacks and Whites presented by Manning?
5) Is the experience of cohabitation related to the pace of childbearing within marriage? What is the nature of this relationship?
6) Manning's discussion of the relationship between length of cohabitation and the pace of childbearing after marriage is somewhat difficult to follow. What is she saying?
7) Manning is really trying to reach some conclusion about the nature of cohabitation relative to marriage. Taken as a whole, how do you interpret her findings? Is cohabitation a substitute for marriage? A precursor to marriage? Something altogether different from marriage?