What Truly Keeps A Marriage Together?
Smoking habits, age, and children out of wedlock play a surprising role in a marriage's longevity.
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Full disclosure: we find ourselves sometimes sickeningly optimistic enough to think that true love might still be enough metaphorical glue to keep a union together.
"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.
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 whose 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 lessen considerably, they say.
Another big factor? Cigarettes. The study reported that if one spouse smokes and another doesn'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!
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Click here to check out the rest of iMag's Love Section.
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