By Jennifer Finjan
You and your partner are head over heels in love and you both think you are ready to spend the rest of your lives together. You look forward to the perfect proposal, the loving marriage, the dream house, and healthy, well-adjusted children.
Is the fact that you are in love really enough to jump into marriage? Are the odds of your marriage surviving in your favour or are you doomed to fail? We have all heard that similarities not differences will get you through the tough times that will inevitably come your way – but which factors will determine your success or failure?
In a recent Australian National University study What’s love got to do with it? Homogamy and dyadic approaches to understanding marital instability, Drs. Rebecca Kippen and Pen Yu, and Professor Bruce Chapman study the determining factors of marital instability in the areas of demographic, sociologic and economic research. This study included 2,482 married couples, who were tracked over a six-year period from 2001 to 2007. Assessments were made on whether marriages between partners with similar characteristics (homogamy) are more likely to last than marriages between dissimilar partners, or whether individual characteristics are more strongly associated with martial stability.
This study reassessed martial instability factors identified in past studies. The study sets out to find if previously identified factors remain the same and if they remain the leading causes of marriage breakdown.
Characteristics such as: different cultural backgrounds, divorce of parents, second and higher-order marriages, marriage length, age at marriage, cohabitation prior to marriage, children from previous marriages, resident children, desire for children, religious beliefs, economic hardship and unemployment, and smoking and alcohol consumption.
The results from this study found that the following factors are associated with higher risk of marital separation:
- Age difference between husband and wife was clearly linked to marital instability. Marriage in which the husband was two or more years younger than his wife were 53% more likely to end. Husbands nine or more years older than their wives were associated with a doubled risk of failure. Couples close in age, where the husband is one year younger to three years older than his wife; have less than half the cases of separation.
- Marriages in which the wife had a much stronger preference than the husband for children were at more than twice the risk of separation than marriages where preferences were in agreement.
- Couples in which the husband’s parents had separated or divorced were almost 90% more likely to separate themselves.
- Couples with equivalized household income of $30,000–$39,999 in 2001 dollars had half the risk of separation of couples with household income less than $20,000. An unemployed husband has three times the risk of separation of a working man.
- Relationships where the husband feels the family is very poor, poor or just getting by have a two-thirds higher probability of separation than relationships in which both husband and wife indicate that they are comfortable to prosperous.
- The age at marriage of a husband over 25 years of age was associated with significantly lower risk of separation than marriage under the age of 25 years.
- Resident children born before the marriage under consideration increased the probability of marital separation by almost two-thirds.
- Wives who consume three or more alcoholic drinks on drinking days with husbands who consume 0–2 drinks are associated with higher probability of marital separation than couples where both partners consume fewer than three standard drinks.
- Relationships in which one partner smokes are at increased risk of separation of between 75 % and 91% over relationships in which both husband and wife do not smoke.
- Partners who are on their second or third marriage are 90% more likely to separate than those in their first marriage.
The following variables were not found to be significant causes for marital instability in this study: country of birth, religiosity, satisfaction with life, education, perceived prosperity,similar smoking and alcohol consumption habits. Cohabitation before marriage, number and age of resident children, wife’s employment status, and husband’s and wife’s years in paid employment do not significantly affect separation risk.
No data could be found to support that women are more likely to leave a marriage if they have the resources to do so, measured in terms of education and connection to the labour force. A wife’s education, employment status and years in paid work have no significant correlation with the risk of marital separation.
Before you take that giant leap — ask yourself, is this person really the best match for me? You may just end up saving yourself future heartbreak and financial hardship down the road, not to mention children with a significant risk of divorce themselves one day.
Last 5 posts by Jennifer
- Oasis Aqualounge - Toronto's Adult Playground - April 13th, 2011
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- The ABC's of Attraction - March 15th, 2010
