Study Finds More Than Love Required For Lasting Marriage

The following article was published by Reuters about factors that keep a couple together.  A couple of themes:

1.   Couples where the partners are close in age tend to last longer and have less divorce.  The study found that a husband who is nine or more years older than his wife is twice as likely to get divorced, as are husbands who get married before they turn 25.    So guys looking for younger women, you are 50% more likely to have a divorce.

2. Couples where one partner smokes and the other doesn’t smoke are more likely to end up divorced.

3. Partners who are on their second or third marriage are 90 percent more likely to separate than spouses who are both in their first marriage.

4. Women who want children much more than their partners are also more likely to get a divorce.

The study, entitled “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” tracked nearly 2,500 couples — married or living together — from 2001 to 2007 to identify factors associated with those who remained together compared with those who divorced or separated.  The  study was done by researchers from the Australian National University.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE56D1RK20090714