RISK FACTORS FOR HIGH DIVORCE RATES

Risk Factors for High Divorce Rates:

Even the most committed couples can grow apart, and this may lead peopleto wonder which factors make a marriage more likely to fail. While having one the more of these risk factors does"t doom you to divorce, the following ten variables are among the most common risk factors for high divorce rates. If the odds seem stacked against you, it may be helpful to know which factors put you more at risk, so you can be aware.

Marrying Young:

It probably comes as no surprise that tying the knot as a teenager makes you vulnerable to divorce later on. Marrying your high school sweetheart might be the stuff of fairy tales, but waiting untill your 20s can improve you changes of domestic bliss. According to a U. S. Census Bureau study cited by Washington state family law attorneys, Mckinlay Irvin, couples who delay marriage until age 25 decrease their divorce risk by 24 percent.

Cohabitating Before Marriage:

According to University of Denver studey published in the Journal of Family Psychology, living together before marriage is"t always a good test of a relationship"s staying power. Couples in committed relationships cohabit for a variety of reasons. Its convenient, its conserves resources, and its gives both sides a change to try out a marriage-like state before walking down the aisle. The study suggest that couples who feel the need to engage in a marriage "trial run" might already suspect there relationship is doomed to fail. Researchers found that this lack of confidence tended to carry over into the marriage.

Number of Previous Marriage:

Sometimes the second or third time is not the charm. According to a study by the CDC, the divorce risk increases with each subsequent marriage. Many people jump into a second relationship too quickly, without having fully recovered form the breakdown of their first marriage. For other people, a second marriage is more difficult to hold together because it lacks a cohesive family unit, such as young children who need constant care and attention from two parents. Repeat marriage can also be troubled by the dynamic of the blended family, which can be complicated by ex-spouses and adult children from previous relationships.

Lack of Religious Affiliation:

Faith seems to play an important role in preventing divorce. A number of studies published by Bowling Green State University suggest that married couples who practice some from of religion have lower divorce rates than the secular population. Furthermore, husbands and wives who share the same faith stay together more often than partners with dissimilar belief systems. Regular church attendance also seems to curb the impulse to call it quits when a relationship sours.

Money Matters:

Poverty, suggest Jeffrey Dew of the National Marriage Project, is one of the foremost indicators of a high divorce risk. The more assets a couple bring into the marriage, the less likely they are to divorce down the road. There is also a direct correlation between the accumulation of material goods and happiness. When a couple accumulates significant debt, their marriage is automatically more likely to fail. Partners who are focused on buying things as a reflection of their self-worth are far less happy than their less materialistic counterparts. According to the study, fighting about money just once per week increases your divorce risk by 30 percent.

Multiples:

children are a tremendous blessing, but having two or three at once can put any marriage on shaky ground. Multiples take more time, energy, and money than a single child. Many times, families with twins or more have undergone expensive fertility treatments in an effort to conceive, which has already strained their finances. According to research conducted by the University of Birmingham in England, the higher order multiples you have, the higher your divorce risk climbs.

Educational Level:

The higher your education level, the less likely you are to end up in divorce court, according to a study published in by the National Center for Family and Research. The study also found that well educated women tend to pick spouses whose education levels match or exceed their own.

Lack of Marital Education:

According to the American Psychological Association, failure to participate in pre-marital counseling can significantly increase your divorce risk.

Parents Divorce:

Children of divorce face an uphill battle in their own marriage. When one spouse comes from a broken home, the changes of divorce increase by 50 percent.

Age Difference Between Spouses:

Long before celebrities made serial May-December romances famous, people questioned and wisdom of pairing spouses from different generations. By contrast, an older wife increased the likelihood of divorce.