Two Qualities of the Perfect Wife
The perfect wife is someone who is both younger and smarter than her husband.
The BBC News reports that researchers from England's Bath University have determined that the secret to a happy marriage is for men to marry a woman who is at least five years younger and more educated.
Couples that fit these characteristics are far more likely to have a long and happy marriage than other couples.
The study: The team interviewed more than 1,500 couples who were either married or in a serious relationship.
Five years later, they followed up with 1,000 of the couples to find out who was still married and who had divorced.
The results:
 Couples in which the wife was five or more years older than her husband were more than three times as likely to divorce than if they were the same age.
 When the woman was at least five years younger than the man, the odds of marital happiness were much higher.
 When the wife was more educated than the man, the chance of marriage success was even greater.
Study leader Dr. Emmanuel Fragniere told the BBC he realizes men and women choose partners "on the basis of love, physical attraction, similarity of taste, beliefs and attitudes and shared values," but using objective factors, such as age, education and cultural origin "may help reduce divorce."
The study findings were published in the European Journal of Operational Research.
--From the Editors at Netscape
Free Recipes by RadioZX
American Debate Link
|