Living Afar from Marriage: Experiences among a Selected Ghanaian Formal Sector Couples.

It is usually perceived that when couples marry, they live together to complement eachother and keep each other’s company. There have been changes in family behaviour at theglobal level. In both the Western world and Africa, mainly when people achieve material well-being, their family relationships become subsidiary to their needs and wants. This studyexamines married couples who live separately and the consequences of this arrangementon their social and economic lifestyles. It uses examples from formal sector workers, andlargely based on a qualitative study conducted using virtual interviews. The study revealsthat although the usual expectation is for married couples to live under the sameroof, contemporary socio-economic conditions often prevent this. As a result, couples adapt asneeded to maintain and sustain their marriages. The study adapts the Living Apart Together(LAT) concept to suit legally married couples who are separated based on economicactivities. It concludes that LAT, as discussed in the literature, focuses on couples, usuallyunmarried, who decide to live apart because of reasons beyond their control. Keywords: Living