Senior sociology major Kailey McCormack involved Eastern’s student body in her independent study about people living together romantically before marriage, and now she is analyzing her findings.

McCormack said last semester she read an article for class that claimed people who cohabitate before marriage tend to have less successful relationships, which triggered an interest in her to study the subject further.

“The article found that those who cohabitate have a higher chance of divorce. This really bothered me because I currently cohabitate right now. I’ve lived with my boyfriend for almost two years now,” she said.

McCormack said the article further explained that cohabitation before marriage does not have much of a definitive negative influence on relationships unless the subjects cohabitate multiple times.

For her independent study, she said she was most interested in learning how family demographics influenced students’ opinions of cohabitation.

She said sexual orientation, religion, social class, political views and family household composition are factors that affect how people view cohabitation.

In order to conduct the study, McCormack said she produced a survey and passed it out to Eastern students.

McCormack said what students indicated in the surveys contradicted what she read in the article about cohabitation.

“I’m very surprised that a lot of parents who cohabitated weren’t divorced, and I found that some of them (who) didn’t cohabitate are divorced. So, I was really surprised by that finding just because that’s one generation before us who had more of a judgment about cohabitation,” she said.

Now that McCormack has all the data from her survey, she said she has just begun the analysis process and hopes she can present her findings at Indianapolis or Georgia in the future.

McCormack said she is also the president of Alpha Kappa Delta, the sociological honors association, and does volunteer work through the organization during her free time.

“(Alpha Kappa Delta has) had one fundraiser so far at Mi Casa, Tu Casa, and with the money that we raised from that, we’re going to buy gifts for patients at Sarah Bush (Hospital),” she said. “We volunteered at Standing Stone, which is a clothing, food and furniture store that helps out people with lower (incomes).”

Vernon Woodley, an associate professor of sociology, said he has helped McCormack with her independent study by offering advice.

“My role is usually a guide or a facilitator,” he said. “I have sort of my go-to template I give (independent study students) … It’s a sort of prompt that they can take.”

Woodley said students usually decide to take a final exam instead of conducting an independent study because taking the final is typically easier.

Even though independent studies are more challenging, Woodley said the experience is rewarding because students produce fine work that they can call their own.

“The reality is (that) the college experience is a lot more than the degree that you get,” he said. “I think students who are doing this kind of work when there’s an independent study, self-learning and taking on huge projects acquire substantially more skills that they could then use in any kind of job compared to other students who do not do that.”

Woodley said McCormack stands out because she takes charge, gets involved and does the hard work necessary to succeed, and he thinks others should aspire to be like that.

“I think she’s the kind of student Eastern should feature. I think she represents the best of Eastern for students,” he said.

Logan Raschke can be reached at 581-2812 or at

lrraschke@eiu.edu.