The Austin Lafferty Solicitors & Estate Agents Blog

A recent study from America has advised couples that regularly finding time to spend together on a 'date night' will bring real benefit to their relationship.  

The report found that married or cohabiting couples who manage to devote time specifically to one another at least once a week are markedly more likely to enjoy high-quality relationships and lower divorce rates, compared to couples who do not devote as much couple time to one another.

The report, from the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, also found that "couple time" is particularly valuable for couples who are less integrated into the local civic or religious fabric of their communities or for those less committed to one another.

"Taking time for your relationship – whether outside the home or inside the home – is good for your relationship health," said report co-author W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project. "This isn't rocket science, but it's an important reminder."

New research from America has found that the wellbeing of people is heavily influenced by whether they are married or divorced.

The survey, by Gallup, found that the Americans with the highest wellbeing score (68.8) were married. People who were divorced scored much lower (59.7), whilst the group with the lowest well-being score over all were people who were separated (55.9).

The research also tracked the wellbeing of people who were single (65.0), cohabiting (63.3), or whose partner had died (63.5).

The report does not suggest a definitive explanation for these results, but suggests that people who have a higher well-being score generally may be more likely to choose marriage than those with a lower well-being score. It also suggests that marriage can bring financial and other economic benefits for couples, whereas ending a marriage usually has negative economic consequences for people, which would affect their wellbeing score.

Recent research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies has found that children of married couples have higher levels of learning and social and emotional development than children of cohabiting parents or single mothers.

However, according to the authors, the differences in children's development were explained by the family's financial circumstances, mother's educational level and parenting approaches rather than the marital status of their parents.

According to researcher Ruth Weston, the study found that 31% of married mothers had a university degree or higher level of education compared to 15% of single and cohabiting mothers. Married mothers were also more likely to be employed and married couple families were less likely to experience financial hardships.

Cohabiting parent families were slightly worse off financially than married parent families but slightly better off than families headed by single mothers. However, of particular concern was the fact that the gaps between the children of single mothers and those living with married parents appeared to widen over time.

Ms Weston said the study also compared parents' reports on their approaches to parenting across the three types of families, and found there were differences between the groups regarding the extent to which they adopted a consistent approach to parenting. Married parents reported greater consistency in parenting than cohabiting couples or single mothers.

Partners provide a vital source of positive emotional support for the vast majority of people in the UK. Nine out of ten people who were married or cohabiting talk to their partner about their worries, according to data from Understanding Society, the world’s largest longitudinal household study of 40,000 UK households. Around 94% of those surveyed rely on their partner for support when a problem crops up.

As part of the Understanding Society study of 40,000 UK households, researchers asked people how much personal and emotional support they felt they received from not only their spouse/partner, but also other family members and friends. Respondents were also asked to rate negative support from their partner, other family members and friends including how much they felt criticised and let down by those people.

“Spouses or partners were largely described as providing positive support,” explains Professor Heather Laurie, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. “Some 88% of respondents said their partner understood the way they feel, with only 10% admitting that they had felt let down by their partner when they were counting on them.”

Understanding where people receive emotional support from is important, researchers argue, because existing evidence suggests a ‘buffering effect’ of having positive social support in the face of shocks such as divorce, ill-health, bereavement, or losing your job. Having positive and strong social support also appears linked with better psychological and physical health.

Recent research from America has found that around two thirds of cohabiting couples were put off marriage because of concerns about dealing with the social, legal, emotional and economic consequences of a possible divorce.

Researchers at Cornell University and the University of Central Oklahoma found that approximately 67% of the study’s respondents shared their worries about divorce. Despite the concerns, middle-class subjects spoke more favorably about tying the knot and viewed cohabitation as a natural stepping stone to marriage compared to their working-class counterparts. Lower-income women were more likely to view marriage as a "trap," fearing that it could be hard to get out of if things go wrong or it would lead to additional domestic responsibilities but few benefits.

The study also found working-class cohabitating couples were more apt to view marriage as “just a piece of paper,” nearly identical to their existing relationship. They were twice as likely to admit fears about being stuck in marriage with no way out once they were relying on their partners’ share of income to get by.

A recent study into family formation by researchers at Bowling Green State University’s National Center for Family and Marriage Research’s (NCFMR) has found that the majority (61%) of young adults have formed a family by age 25.

According to the research, over two-thirds of women (69%) have formed a family in early adulthood compared to just over half of men (53%). Education also plays an integral part in how a family is formed. Family formation in early adulthood was most prevalent among young adults with a GED diploma, at 81%. Those with at least a bachelor’s degree were least likely to form a family before age 25 (44%).

“Increasingly, young adults are spending more time in school as they pursue college and advanced degrees,” said Dr. Susan Brown, co-director of the NCFMR and a professor of sociology. “This tends to delay family formation—whether childbearing, cohabitation, or marriage—as most people aim to achieve financial security prior to starting a family.”

Researchers found over a quarter of young adults married prior to their 25th birthday. Over a third of them followed a direct or “traditional” pathway into marriage, meaning they did not live with their partner or have a child before getting married. Men were more likely than women to follow this “traditional” pathway.

The researchers also found out that living together is a strong pathway to marriage. Among young adults who got married, over three-fifths cohabited before tying the knot. Women are also more likely than men to live with someone before marriage (63% versus 57%).