Some people believe that opposites attract. Others follow
the “birds of a feather” slogan when choosing a mate. Certainly, having shared
interests can make any relationship stronger. But did you know that having
drinking habits in common is a key predictor of marital longevity?
Researchers in Norway studied nearly 20,000 married
couples over 15 years, looking at the divorce rate among the couples as a
function of their alcohol consumption. Their results were more in the “birds of
a feather” camp.
The study looked at four groups, based on their drinking
habits. One group was made up of couples where both spouses drank very little
or no alcohol. A second group had all heavy drinkers, both husband and wife.
The third group had the wife drinking a lot and the husband drinking a little
and the final group reversed this, so the husband drank a lot and the wife
drank a little.
Not too surprisingly, the divorce rates varied between
groups. The group where neither spouse drank very much had the lowest incidence of
divorce, about 9% over the course of the study. Couples where the husband drank
a lot and the wife drank a little were the next most successful couples, with a
13% divorce rate. Next in line were the couples that both drank heavily. They had
a 17% divorce rate. The highest divorce rate, coming in at over 26%, was among couples where
the wife drank heavily and the husband drank lightly.
It is reasonable to predict that marriage longevity would
be decreased by heavy use of alcohol. The surprising result to come from this
study was the difference observed based on which spouse drank in an imbalanced
couple. Husbands who drank heavily were half as likely to get divorces as wives
who drank heavily, in situations where the spouse did not drink a lot.
Compatibility counts! So as you are evaluating
prospective life partners, pay attention to their drinking habits. If they don’t
match yours, maybe you should get a pre-nup!
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