Women who have doubts before their wedding have a higher risk of marital problems and divorce, researchers from UCLA reported in the Journal of Family Psychology.
The authors explained that pre-wedding misgivings are frequently a sign that there is likely to be trouble ahead. Although the pre-nuptial jitters are often predictors of marital problems years later for both men and women, the association was found to be closer among women.
Lead author, doctoral psychology candidate, Justin Lavner, said:
“People think everybody has premarital doubts and you don’t have to worry about them. We found they are common but not benign. Newlywed wives who had doubts about getting married before their wedding were two-and-a-half times more likely to divorce four years later than wives without these doubts. Among couples still married after four years, husbands and wives with doubts were significantly less satisfied with their marriage than those without doubts.
You know yourself, your partner and your relationship better than anybody else does; if you’re feeling nervous about it, pay attention to that. It’s worth exploring what you’re nervous about.”
Lavner and team had set out to determine whether doubts leading up to the wedding day might be predictors of subsequent marital problems and the likelihood of divorce. They gathered and analyzed data on 232 newlywed couples in the Los Angeles area, they were to be married within a few months. They carried out follow-up studies twice a year for a period of four years. The average age of the males on their wedding day was 27 years, and 25 for females.
47% of the men and 28% of the women said they had been hesitant and uncertain about getting married in the first survey. Even though a small percentage of women had doubts, their worries were better predictors of subsequent marital problems.
19% of the females who said they had had doubts before their wedding day were divorced within four years, compared to 8% of the other women. 14% of husbands who had experienced pre-wedding jitters were divorced within four years, compared to 9% of the other men.
The decisive factor was pre-wedding doubts
The decisive factor impacting on higher divorce risk were the pre-wedding doubts, the authors explained, regardless of how happy they were with their partners when they were interviewed, or whether their parents were divorced…
Read more: Medical News Today
