News & Events
Arielle Kuperberg article
Could this factor ruin your marriage?
Article By: Stefan de Clerk
Thu, 31 Jul 2014 11:46 AM
For a while now we’ve been told that living with your partner before you’re married is a sure-fire way to end up in the divorce court. However, this might not be entirely true.
Since the 1970s numerous studies have warned couples that living together before marriage will exponentially increase the chances for matrimonial failure. These studies show that couples who shared a roof, some furniture and a bed before they were ring-bound seldom reached the 15-year mark after they had wed. These studies might play right into the laps of religious leaders, but really, if you need a reason for not “living in sin”, the statistics speak for themselves.
In a paper published in the Journal of Marriage and Family earlier this year, author Arielle Kuperberg investigated one factor that virtually all of these studies ignored: age. According to US census data, age plays a significant part in the likelihood of divorce in that country.
Kuperberg looked at previous research on the correlation between cohabitation and divorce and tested it against the age at which these couples first started living together. She found that age rather than living together was the primary determining factor in divorce risk. The younger the couple is when they decide to shack up together, the more likely it is for them to end up in the divorce court should they decide to get married.
Stability of income, higher education and the maturity to pick appropriate partners are among the factors at play, but there is also the argument that living together before marriage has become more socially acceptable, with the same census data showing a 900-percent increase in pre-marital cohabitation in the US over the last 50 years.
But this doesn’t mean there aren’t still many risks involved in living together – even if you’re older – with some researchers arguing that unless there is a serious commitment for marriage, such as an engagement, before a couple moves in together, the marriage may still be a high divorce risk.
In an interview with The Atlantic, clinical psychologist Meg Jay warns that these new studies still don’t prove that couples necessarily fully comprehend the seriousness of their decision, and urges couples to be aware of the positives and negatives involved before they take this big step.
