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While a 2006 survey revealed that 95 percent of Americans have sex before marriage, a study out of Brigham Young University just scored a big one for the virtue of patience.
Published this week in the Journal of Family Psychology, the study suggests that one of the keys to a happy marriage is delayed sexual gratification.
Couples who reported waiting for sex until after marriage also reported greater happiness, stability and sexual satisfaction than those couples who had sex early on in a relationship.
Couples who hit the honeymoon too early -- that is, prioritize sex promptly at the outset of a relationship -- often find their relationships underdeveloped when it comes to the qualities that make relationships stable and spouses reliable and trustworthy, said sociologist Mark Regnerus, author of Premarital Sex in America, speaking in a BYU press release. Regnerus was not involved with the study.
Pulling data from an online marriage assessment tool, researchers in BYU's School of Family Life examined responses from more than 2,000 married individuals.
In addition to discovering greater marital satisfaction among premarital abstainers, researchers also learned that early sex is common, with almost 40 percent of couples having sex within the first few dates.
Study co-author Dean Busby speculated to Businessweek that these couples might stay together because of the ties formed by the early sex, despite basic incompatibilities.
The take-home message is that sex is a powerful experience, Busby told Businessweek. It really bonds us to one another and so it may be important before we go down that road to take the time to see if you can talk to this other person -- see if you have similar personalities and similar directions in life -- to see whether or not this is a relationship that can last.
Link: http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/31/delaying-sex-shown-to-be-key-to-a-happy-marriage/
Published this week in the Journal of Family Psychology, the study suggests that one of the keys to a happy marriage is delayed sexual gratification.
Couples who reported waiting for sex until after marriage also reported greater happiness, stability and sexual satisfaction than those couples who had sex early on in a relationship.
Couples who hit the honeymoon too early -- that is, prioritize sex promptly at the outset of a relationship -- often find their relationships underdeveloped when it comes to the qualities that make relationships stable and spouses reliable and trustworthy, said sociologist Mark Regnerus, author of Premarital Sex in America, speaking in a BYU press release. Regnerus was not involved with the study.
Pulling data from an online marriage assessment tool, researchers in BYU's School of Family Life examined responses from more than 2,000 married individuals.
In addition to discovering greater marital satisfaction among premarital abstainers, researchers also learned that early sex is common, with almost 40 percent of couples having sex within the first few dates.
Study co-author Dean Busby speculated to Businessweek that these couples might stay together because of the ties formed by the early sex, despite basic incompatibilities.
The take-home message is that sex is a powerful experience, Busby told Businessweek. It really bonds us to one another and so it may be important before we go down that road to take the time to see if you can talk to this other person -- see if you have similar personalities and similar directions in life -- to see whether or not this is a relationship that can last.
Link: http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/31/delaying-sex-shown-to-be-key-to-a-happy-marriage/