While certain factors that we bring upon ourselves and our relationship, like cheating, may be definitive indicators as to the fate of our relationships, other contributing factors to successful relationship are not within our control. We can’t help what gender our children will be, where we were born, and we certainly can’t change what our parents did or do, but yet despite that, these things are predictors of whether or not our relationship has a chance. It’s definitely not fair, but at least if we know our likelihood of marriage demise, maybe we can stay abreast of it ― perhaps?
If only we were handed a crystal ball when we came into the world, we could avoid so much drama and so many problems. We’d realize that, yes, the expiration date on food is there for a reason, scheduling a 9 a.m. Friday class in college is beyond stupid, and nope, the love of our life won’t be around forever. We’d know when not to invest in something and be able to bail before things get bad. It might be a drag to know the future, but not knowing it isn’t exactly all that great either.
But since no one has a working crystal ball, at least not that I know of, we at least have researchers who have come as close as possible to predicting what’s in the future for couples. Although some may seem absurd and you may even roll your eyes, here are 10 scientific facts that can predict whether you and your sweetie have a chance or not.
1. Stay Together: If You Wait Until After Marriage To Have Kids
Although it might be dreadfully traditional in the order it follows, waiting to have kids until after you’re hitched will keep you and your S.O. together, a 2015 study by the Marriage Foundation of 1,800 mothers with at least one child aged 14 or 15 discovered. In fact, those who have kids after making their relationship legal with fancy papers and all that have a 70 percent greater chance than those couples who do it the other way around.
2. Break up: If You Spend A Lot On Your Wedding
A 2014 Emory University study of 3,151 adults in the United States who are, or have been, married found that those who had a wedding more than $20,000 had a 1.6 times higher chances of divorce than those who were able to keep the cost of the wedding between $5K and $10K. However, considering the average cost of a wedding these days is $29,858, that doesn’t really bode well for many of us.
3. Stay Together: If You Don’t Have A Daughter
Apparently, having a daughter really takes a toll on a relationship. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, those couples with a daughter are less likely to try to make a marriage work than those who have sons. While research can’t say exactly why this might be the case, psychologists speculate that women in bad marriages who have daughters may be more willing to make a run for it (five percent more likely), because they want a better life for their little girl.
4. Break up: If You Continue To Hang Around With Your Divorced Friends
It may seem ridiculous and even cruel to bail on a friend just because she’s getting divorced, but studies have found breaking up is contagious. A 2010 Brown University of 12,000 Americans found that if you have someone close to you who throws in the towel on their relationship, your chances for divorce immediately go up by 75 percent. Maybe because it looks like so much fun? Yeah … that must be it.
5. Stay Together: If You Live In A Blue State
Despite conservatives in red states preaching about just how important marriage and traditional family is, it’s actually those who reside in those hypocritical states who are 27 percent more likely to divorce than those living in liberal states, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. However, although I’m hardly defending red states, the fact that those from liberal states get married way later could have something to do with it.
6. Break up: If You Didn’t Smile In Photos As A Kid
What the wha ― ?! Studies have found that one in four people who didn’t smile enough or had a weak “smile strength” in their youth saw their marriages end in divorce. A follow-up study in 2009 from DePauw University saw similar results, with non-smilers being five times more likely to divorce than those who dare to bear their pearly whites in happiness.
7. Stay Together: If Neither You Nor Your Partner’s Parents Are Divorced
Not only is divorce contagious, but it seems to be in the genes, too. According to the 2005 National Survey of Families and Households, which interviewed 13,000 people, those with divorced parents are 40 percent more likely to divorce than those couples who didn’t come from families where mom and dad split. Adding insult to injury, if your parents divorced, but then remarried, even if it worked out the second time around, you’re 91 percent more likely to head to divorce court, too.
8. Break up: If You’re A Dancer Or Choreographer
According to the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, your profession has a pretty big bearing on whether or not you and your partner are going to be able to stay together. The profession most doomed when it comes to Splitsville? Dancers and choreographers, with a 43.05 percent divorce rate. Rounding out the top three, at 38.43 percent and 38.22 percent likelihood of divorce, are bartenders and massage therapists, respectively.
9. Stay Together: If You’re Five Years Younger Than Your Husband
While some studies have found that the greater the age difference the greater the likelihood a couple will part ways, a 2009 study of 1,534 Swiss couples who were either married or in a serious relationship conducted by Bath University found that there’s actually a perfect age gap. Apparently, if a woman is five to six years younger than her male partner, then she’s six times less likely to find herself divorced later on.
10. Break up: If You have a low IQ
The Delaware-Johns Hopkins Project for the Study of Intelligence and Society research team found, people with an IQ of 100 have a 28 percent likelihood of divorcing in the first five years of marriage, whereas those with an IQ of 130, only have a nine percent chance. For the record, the average IQ is the United States is supposedly 98, but those online free IQ tests will have you believe it’s way higher.
Images: Makena Zayle Gadient/Flickr; Giphy(10)
