Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion

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This finding looks at the relationship between a women's premarital sexual activity and cohabiting before marriage with a partner other than her husband and the likelihood of divorce.

While a woman's intimate premarital relationship that was exclusively with her husband did not affect the risk of marital disruption, having at least one other intimate relationship prior to marriage was linked to an increased risk of divorce (The increase in risk associated with having had a sexual relationship with another partner ranged from 53 percent to 119 percent). The risk of divorce is substantially higher if the woman not only had a sexual relationship with another man before marriage but also cohabited with that partner. (This increase in risk is as high as 166 percent).

Sample or Data Description
6,577 women aged 15 to 45 who had been married and whose first marriages were contracted between 1970 and 1995 (with data taken from the 1995 round of the National Survey of Family Growth.

Source
"Premarital Sex, Premarital Cohabitation, and the Risk of Subsequent Marital Dissolution Among Women"
Teachman, Jay
Journal of Marriage and Family Vol. 65, Number . May, 2003. Page(s) 444-455.

FindingID: 5266