Yahoo LifestyleCouples that get engaged before living together less likely to divorce
People who commit to getting married before they move in together are more likely to have a happy marriage than those who get married as the 'next logical step'
Living together before you get married might actually lower your chances of a happy marriage.
Despite modern wisdom recommending couples live together first to 'try it out', a new study has suggested that getting engaged before giving the moving in thing a go lowers the risk of divorce later on.
Couples who live together first often get engaged because it's ‘the next logical step’ in their relationship. But according to the research, this makes them 40 per cent more likely to get divorced.
The research by psychologists Scott Stanley and Galena Rhoades found that couples who move in together after getting engaged were happier in their marriages.
They suggested that this is because couples who decide together to move in together after getting engaged are more likely to have clear expectations, a shared commitment to one another and common values.
Whereas couples who ‘slide’ into living together and getting engaged due to family pressure and because they think it’s the right thing to do face a higher divorce rate and unhappier marriages.
The study also found a big difference in what men and women class as a serious relationship.
When 18-26 year-old men were asked if the women they lived with was a serious, long-term partner, more than half said they weren't sure. More than two thirds of the women polled, however, believed that living with their partner meant they were both in it for the long haul.
[Falling in love online: Eleven years after that first click, I'm still happily married]
And astonishingly, 41 per cent of men surveyed said they’re not ‘completely committed’ to the girlfriend they live with.
Spencer Matthews, you have a lot to answer for!
[Find love online at Match.com]
[Nicole Scherzinger admits that she’s lonely following Lewis Hamilton split, chin up Nic!]
Are you happily married? Did you move in together and then get engaged - or the only way round? Vote in our poll and tell us over on Twitter now.
