Want a happy marriage? Stop sleeping around.
Having few – or even just one – sexual partners is the key to wedded bliss, according to a new study.
“Contrary to conventional wisdom, when it comes to sex, less experience is better, at least for the marriage,” W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociologist at the Institute for Family Studies, told The Atlantic, commenting on a survey from Nicolas Wolfinger at the Institute of Family Studies.
The survey found people who have only had sex with their spouses are the most likely to say they are in a “very happy” marriage.
Those with the lowest odds for marital bliss, according to the survey, are women who have had six to 10 sexual partners in their lives They are 13% less likely to report a happy marriage.
Men are less likely to feel the sting of multiple sex partners, and in general are more likely than women to report they are in a happy marriage regardless of sexual partner numbers.
Using data from 1989 to 2016, researchers found 71% of men who have only had sex with their spouse reported they were in a happy marriage, while 64% of women said the same.
These findings match up with a previous study by Wolfinger that found women with zero or one previous sexual partner before marriage were the least likely to divorce. However, he also noted by the 2010s only 5% of new brides were virgins, according to The Atlantic.
It isn’t all bad though. The study also reported 64% of people overall said they were in a “very happy” marriage regardless of their bed count.
https://edmontonsun.com/life/sex-fi...tudy/wcm/4d0035ef-713c-438d-b9b8-f0515782b4d9
