Couples who live together before marriage without any commitment like engagement, hurt their chances of a having a long lasting marriage.

That's the findings from a new study reported Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study was based on a 2002 survey for the National Survey of Family Growth.

One reason cohabitations were shorter-lived than marriages is that 51% of couples who lived together made the transition to marriage within three years, CDC said in a statement.

Previous studies have found that couples who lived together before marriage had more of a chance of divorce.