Age is only a number... But it could mean the difference between 'til death do us part' and divorce.
Teens who tie the knot have always faced the highest divorce rates, and still do.
But now, according to Family-Studies.org, new research by Nicholas H. Wolfinger found that those who wed after their early 30s are now more likely to divorce than those in their late 20s.
In fact, past the early 30s, Wolfinger found that the odds of divorce increase by 5 percent per year of age at marriage.
Gone are the days of older age meaning long lasting love.
Though more mature, more educated, and more financially sound, once couples hit the 32 year-mark, their chances of divorce increase.
Wolfinger compared data from 1995 to recent years, and he says divorce rates have now increased for those over age 32, despite a couple's location, ethnicity, or religion.
However, Wolfinger says having multiple sex partners before marriage can significantly increase the chances of getting divorced.
He suggests having children out of wedlock with a volatile person can also lead to a split due to increased drama.
Wolfinger also says people who typically wait to wed have trouble with interpersonal relationships.
Or it could just be that people are simply set in their ways at an older age, or never wanted to wed in the first place.
"My money is on a selection effect: the kinds of people who wait till their thirties to get married may be the kinds of people who aren’t predisposed toward doing well in their marriages. Some people seem to be congenitally cantankerous. Such people naturally have trouble with interpersonal relationships. Consequently they delay marriage, often because they can’t find anyone willing to marry them. When they do tie the knot, their marriages are automatically at high risk for divorce. More generally, perhaps people who marry later face a pool of potential spouses that has been winnowed down to exclude the individuals most predisposed to succeed at matrimony," Wolfinger writes.
His research seems to point to the fact that late 20s are the best time to get married.
Based on other research, the longer a couple dates before marriage, the longer the marriage will last.
