What Truly Keeps A Marriage Together?
Smoking habits, age, and children out of wedlock play a surprising role in a marriage's longevity.
Full disclosure: we find ourselves sometimes sickeningly optimistic enought to think that true love might still be enough metaphorical glue to keep a union together. Marriage Advice for Guys
Ha Ha says a group of Australian scientists.
In a study labeled, "What's Love Got to Do With It" a team of Aussie researchers followed 2, 500 couples from 2001 to 2007 and unearthed a slew of surprising facts about what actually keeps a couple together.
For starters, all of you ladies out there who yearn for an older, distinguished George Clooney type—buyer beware. The study found that women who are nine or more years younger than their husbands are twice as likely to get divorced. The same goes for the all too familiar post-collegiate rush of baby-faced brides and grooms. Men who marry before the age of 25 were also twice as likely to call it quits.
Another red flag? Children out of wedlock. The study found that a whopping one-fifth of all the couples having children before the marriage divorced. Marriage Seperation & Kids
Not surprisingly, women who wanted kids more than their spouses ended the marriage pretty consistently, while the rate for divorce amongst children of divorce was also steadily higher than couples who's parents are still together. Serial husbands and wives are also ones to look out for. If it's a second or third marriage the chances of it succeeding lesson considerably, they say.
Another big factor? Cigarettes. The study reported that if one spouse smoked and another didn't, the union is more likely to end in divorce court.
So now for the good news: how many children a married couple have appears to be inconsequential. It also doesn't seem to matter whether or not the wife works, or how many years either husband or wife have been employed.
Well, that's something!
Discussion
Interesting article for sure. However, if half of all marriages end in divorce and one fifth of marriage that have kids before they get married get divorced, then wouldn't it make sense to have kids before getting married. it seems the odds go from 50 percent to 80 percent for making it, but i could be doing the math wrong
The Australian study above only tracked people for a few years (2001-2007). So their data showed only 9% of couples without children born before marriage getting separated (compared to 20% of the couples with kids).
The stat that 50% of marriages end in divorce is looking at a whole lifetime. So the couples in the study could still get divorced. On the other hand, at least in America, there are more divorces in the early years of a marriage.
The good news is that many experts think the odds of getting divorced are only 40% for the younger generation. This may be due to cohabiting and/or marrying later.
I bet when women marry older men, they're more likely to get a guy who's been divorced. That might be one reason they're more likely to get divorced.
I've seen things before about how the divorce rate is really high for couples who get married because they have a baby (they figure this based on a baby born before marriage or in the first seven months). I bet that affects younger couples more, too. - An argument on the side of more sex education about birth control.
