Before Marriage:
1) Today, people are getting married later in life. The average age of those married for the first time is currently 28 for men and 25 for women. (National Health Statistics Report, 2012) Compare this to the numbers from 1960 when the median age was 23 for men and 20 for women.
2) Couples who live together before marriage have a 46% greater risk of divorce than couples who do not live together before marriage (Marriage and the Family in the United States: Resources for Society, 10). Those who live together without a prior commitment to marriage are especially at risk if they eventually decide to marry. (see Dr. Scott Stanley, “Sliding vs Deciding” blog)
3) Pregnancy and childbearing prior to marriage significantly increase the likelihood of future divorce. In America, more than one-third (37%) of children are born to parents who are not married and few of these parents eventually marry. Most of those parents will separate before the child even begins school and some will never marry at all.
4) Parents divorce. Of course, some risk factors for divorce are not in your control. If you experienced the divorce of your parents, unfortunately, that doubles your risk for divorce. And if your spouse also experienced his or her parents’ divorce, then your risk for divorce more than triples. This is scary, but it doesn’t doom your marriage to failure. It does suggest that individuals who experienced the divorce of their parents need to work even harder to make good marriage choices and to keep their marriage strong and happy.
5) Research shows if you get married after age 27 you have a 57% chance you will stay married.
As you can see, there are things you can do to increase your chances you will not get a divorce, however, just because you don’t get a divorce does not mean you will have a happy marriage.
In fact, divorce lawyer, James Sexton tells us in the following video along with Lewis Howes, that couples could benefit from having a consultation with a divorce attorney before marriage. This is to make them aware of what they’re getting themselves into and to consider things you probably have not thought about yet.
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