Just like every person is different, so is every marriage. No matter what the state of the relationship, no one besides you and your spouse – not experts, not friends or relatives – can decide whether ending your marriage is the right decision. However, if you’re already experiencing doubts as to whether your relationship is working, marriage experts have determined that there are several factors indicative of a higher likelihood of divorce.
These divorce risk factors obviously don’t cause divorce or even necessarily indicate that your marriage is in trouble. Marital experts have simply found a correlation between them and a couple’s increased likelihood of ending their marriage. Read on to see whether your marriage is at a higher risk and whether there’s anything you can do about it.
Risk factors for divorce
Surprising though some of these may be, experts have determined that the following factors raise a couple’s chances of splitting up:
- Getting married at a young age: For whatever reason, marriage in your teens or early twenties increases your likelihood of divorce, while waiting longer appears to result in a stronger relationship.
- Having parents who divorced: Divorce is more common among children whose parents split up; there seem to be inherited genetic traits linked to a higher rate of divorce.
- Drinking more or less than your spouse: When one spouse is sober or only occasionally imbibes while the other is a heavy drinker, the odds of splitting up increase by 55 percent.
- Having an expensive wedding: Costly nuptials might cost you your marriage; the more expensive the wedding, the more likely a divorce.
- Having your first child quickly: Women who waited more than eight months after getting married had a lower rate of divorce than women who had their first child before that.
- Skipping a college degree: Studies show that the higher the completed degree, the less likely an individual is to divorce.
- Lacking a religious upbringing: Religious upbringing seems to affect divorce risk, too, as women raised in a religious household had an almost 20 percent higher likelihood of staying married for 20 years or longer.
Some of these factors – like whether your parents got divorced – are, of course, completely beyond your control, and none of them automatically means your marriage is headed for divorce.
Addressing these issues
Of course, simply being aware of an increased risk and working to address what issues you can is probably beneficial for any relationship. However, if any of these or other risk factors apply and you’re already considering ending your marriage, there are professional, experienced resources in New Jersey who can offer invaluable legal advice and support should you need it.