RESEARCH CENTRE: For a happy union, marry your age-mate
A couple poses for a photo. According to findings of a recent study, the age gap between you and your man does matter.. PHOTO | FILE |
What you need to know:
The study also looked at other factors that can be used to predict the chances of marital success including money, children and the length of time that a couple dated before tying the knot.
The researchers came across interesting findings. Apparently, having a baby with your spouse decreases chances of a divorce by up to 76 per cent in comparison to a couple who does not have a child together.
An educational difference on the other hand seemed to increase the chances of divorce with 50 per cent if the woman was more educated, and by 32 percent if the man was more educated.
According to findings of a recent study, the age gap between you and your man does matter.
In fact, Researchers from Emory University in the US have found that this age gap directly influences the quality and length of your marriage.
If you are looking for someone to grow old with, study findings suggest that you should look for someone your age, as marriages with small age gaps were found to be less likely to end in divorce.
The study drew from data from 3,000 recently-married and divorced couples and findings showed that the wider the age gap between a couple, the higher their chances of divorce.
Even a one-year age gap was found to increase the chances of divorce but the numbers skyrocketed when the age gap was as high as 15 to 20 years.
Couples with a five-year age difference were found to be 18 per cent more likely to divorce. When the age gap rose to 10 years, the likelihood of divorce rose to 39 per cent. A 30-year age gap on the other hand showed a whopping 172 per cent likelihood of divorce. According to the study, the perfect age difference for couples who want a happy-ever-after is four years and four months.
Interesting findings
The study also looked at other factors that can be used to predict the chances of marital success including money, children and the length of time that a couple dated before tying the knot.
The researchers came across interesting findings. Apparently, having a baby with your spouse decreases chances of a divorce by up to 76 per cent in comparison to a couple who does not have a child together.
An educational difference on the other hand seemed to increase the chances of divorce with 50 per cent if the woman was more educated, and by 32 percent if the man was more educated.
The study also showed that the longer a couple is married, the higher the chances that they will stay together.
It seems like once a couple has survived the storms that characterise the early stages of marriage, their relationship is cemented and they may last forever.
Explaining these findings which have been published on The Social Science Research Network website, study author Randy Olson says that this study isn’t meant to encourage couples to have children just so that they can stay together.
He notes that the study outcome could be because couples in shaky relationships opt not to have children.
