Saleh 1

Anjie Saleh

Professor Fielding

WRTC 103

2/21/17

Cohabitation on the Rise

Cohabitation: the state of living together and having a sexual relationship without being

married. In the following viewpoint, Cohabitation Is Harmful to Parenting, published in

Greenhaven Press in 2013 by Roman Espejo, Espejo argues unmarried adults living together

with children is an unsafe and unhealthy environment for children. In order to develop a strong

argument Espejo employs many facts and statistics, citing reputable sources, and adding pathos

to successfully grab the readers attention; however, Salehs public service announcement,

utilizes pathos through images, colors and words because visuals allow the audience to develop

an emotional response more than ethos and logos would.

This article is mainly about how cohabitation takes a toll on young children. The author

analyzes research and facts to explain how cohabitation is hurting parenting for many reasons.

The IAV highlights five negative themes found in cohabiting households: the decreased

likelihood of children to thrive in such arrangements, exposure of children to family instability,

increased family instability in American life, rise of "complex households" composed of partially

related and unrelated members, and disproportionate rates and effects of cohabitation on poor

communities. In the article, the institute claims that intact marriages are the "gold standard" for

parenting. Not only is cohabitation negative for many reasons but there are so many positive

attributes to marriage. The article emphasizes that marriage can, associate with a range of

economic, health, educational, and safety benefits that help local, state.
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Espejo uses strong appeals to logos, with many outstanding facts and statistics. He

addresses the relationship between cohabitating couples and single mother by stating. Now,

approximately 24 percent of the nation's children are born to cohabiting couples, which means

that more children are currently born to cohabiting couples than to single mothers, (P. 5). This

fact justifies the alarming difference between how high cohabiting families is to single mothers.

Espejo continues with many statistics such as: Another 20 percent or so of children

spend time in a cohabiting household with an unrelated adult at some point later in their

childhood, often after their parents' marriage breaks down. This means that more than four in ten

children are exposed to a cohabiting relationship, (P. 5). These statistics support his claim that

cohabitation is a substantial and real problem because the numbers will continue to increase by

the years. The numbers employ an appeal to logos and proves to the reader that this is a vital

problem that needs to be addressed.

Along with strong logos appeals, Espejo effectively makes appeals to pathos throughout

his article by establishing a serious tone. Through the use of diction Espejo illustrates an

upsetting image in the readers mind when discussing children being emotionally and physically

abused. Espejo says, And when it comes to abuse, recent federal data indicate that children in

cohabiting households are markedly more likely to be physically, sexually, and emotionally

abused than children in both intact, married families and single-parent families, (P. 6). His goal

is to show the negative impact of cohabitation on children by using alarming words such as

sexually, physically, emotionally, abuse, are all words that catch the readers attention.

He continues to show a negative tone to this topic by stating, Such transitions, especially

multiple transitions, are linked to higher reports of school failure, behavioral problems, drug use,

and loneliness, among other outcomes, (P. 7). His diction establishes a serious tone for the rest of
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the article and really opens the readers eyes. Utilizing pathos can create an effective emotional

response from the reader.

Additionally, Espejo continues his effectiveness through rhetorical appeals by including

ethos to establish credibility. In the beginning of Espejo argument, he includes an organization,

Founded in 1987, the IAV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for the study and advocacy of

American values, (P. 1). Including this organization validates Espejos argument because it

allows the audience to know the source of the information. Espejo is also a published author and

an editor of children's books and young adult books. Being a published author credits Espejos

article because he proves to have knowledge on the topic.

Using rhetorical appeals the author tries to convince parents that are not married with

kids to understand that it's important to stay together when having kids because it has a huge

impact. Also the author tries to convince families that raise their children in a cohabitation

environment to pay attention to the harmful effects they are causing on their children. The author

also reaches out to those who are living together but not married and thinking about having

children. He stresses the harm of unmarried adults living together with children therefore those

that are unmarried without children yet should get married in order to have children.
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Be the change in a cohabiting environment.

Dont allow your kids to suffer because of
the mistake you made to live together
unmarried.

The PSA shows effective images, colors, and words in order to develop an emotional

response from the audience. The author successfully demonstrates a serious tone in order to

prove her argument. Also Anjie Salehs PSA shows visually, the negative effects of cohabitation

on a child. A child whose parents have a cohabitation relationship and has parents that arent

married and have a lesser connection are more susceptible to go through more traumatic

experiences which are shown in the PSA. The visual image shows the kid getting yelled at in

between his parents and the child cringing and covering their ears because of it. This is relevant

because in cohabitation relationships many things can be taken out on the child or children
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because the parents may believe that to be the root of the issue. The PSA is meant to be a visual

representation of what it can do and the real effects of that sort of relationship on a kid.

Although Salehs PSA does not focus or include many uses of logos, she successfully

presents an important statistic to contribute to her argument. The PSA includes the fact, More

than four in ten children are exposed to a cohabiting relationship,(Saleh). This fact is extremely

effective and grabs the audience attention also because of its size and color. Presenting the fact

in a black, bold font really stands out and proves part of the PSA argument. The claim of the

authors PSA is clear and specific though it does lack evidence and support. The author could

have also included more statistics to make her claim more effective.

The author employs pathos through images, colors, and text to engage the audiences

emotion. The creator appeals to the values and beliefs of the audience through the use of an

image. The image depicts parents and a child which establish a connection with her audience.

Showing angry parents yelling in between a child who is holding his hands up against his ears

creates an angry and disgruntled tone. The audience can assume that the family is not happy and

very dysfunctional. Also using words such as drugs, harmed, abuse, depression, sex, (Saleh)

engages the audiences emotion because of how powerful and negative they are.

However, the use of ethos is not strong in Salehs PSA which lessens her credibility. The

PSA only includes one non-profit organizations and one popular company. Saleh could have used

a stronger or more effective organization to establish more credibility. Establishing credibility is

not as important as utilizing pathos because the audience does not pay attention to ethos right

away. A PSA should always include information that confirms that the author knows the topic

well. Overall, Saleh could have included more than one credible source to prove her argument.
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Both the verbal argument and PSA evoke strong emotions and displays a powerful

message. The PSA shows a clear image of the verbal argument and the audience can have a

better understanding of the verbal argument through the PSA. The verbal argument is more

convincing because of the many uses of ethos, pathos, and logos. If the PSA included as many

resources as the verbal argument than both would be an impactful viewpoint.

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Work Cited

"Cohabitation Is Harmful to Parenting." Parenting, edited by Roman Espejo, Greenhaven

Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010863218/OVIC?u=viva_jmu&xid=b7794bd4. Accessed 26

Feb. 2017. Originally published as "Executive Summary," Why Marriage Matters: Thirty

Conclusions from the Social Sciences, 2011.

"McDonald's Official Global Corporate Website :: McDonald's." McDonald's Official

Global Corporate Website :: McDonald's. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.

<http://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd.html>.

"Worcester Youth & Family Counseling Services Berlin MD | Mental Health." Family

Counseling Worcester County MD. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2017. <https://gowoyo.org/>.

"What Happens to Children When Parents Fight." Developmental Science. N.p., n.d.

Web. 26 Feb. 2017. <http://www.developmentalscience.com/blog/2014/04/30/what-happens-to-

children-when-parents-fight>.