Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract Cohabitation, as one of the new forms of imformal marriage, has become an important social issue in recent years, especially among young people, due to the changes in the value and normative structures of societies. The aim of this article is to analyze the effect of the value structure of young people on the tendency to cohabitation. The qualitative research method is using the grounded theory method and the data collection tool is interviews. The statistical population of experts and specialists in the field of family, who were selected using purposeful sampling of 20 people, was analyzed with three-stage open, selective and axial coding, from which 117 concepts, 30 categories and 14 themes were extracted. The central phenomenon of "unstable couplehood" was selected. The findings showed that cohabitation in Iran is not simply the result of the conscious and free choice of young people, but is the product of the conflict between traditional structures and the requirements of the modern world. This phenomenon is a reflection of an incomplete value transition