Troubled marriages costing US cos $6 billion annually

The term ‘marriage’ derives from the Latin word ‘mas’ meaning ‘male’ or ‘masculine.’ The earliest known use of the word in English dates from the thirteenth century. The term ‘groom’ is from the old English guma, meaning ‘man.’ A marriage ceremony typically ends with a kiss because in ancient Rome, a kiss was a legal bond that sealed contracts, and marriage was seen as a contract.

Modern western marriage traditions have long been shaped by Roman, Hebrew, and Germanic cultures as well as by doctrines and traditions of the Medieval Christian church, the Protestant Reformation, and the Industrial Revolution.

At Italian weddings, it is not unusual for both the bride and groom to break a glass. The number of shard will be equal to the number of happy years the couple will have. More than friendship, laughter, forgiveness, compatibility, and sex, spouses name trust as the element crucial for a happy marriage.

Due to jobs, kids, TV, the internet, hobbies, and home and family responsibilities, the average married couple spends just four minutes a day alone together. 81 per cent of happily married couples said their partner’s friends and family rarely interfered with the relationship, compared to just 38 per cent of unhappy couples.

Marriage wasn't always about love. The probability of a first marriage ending in a divorce within five years is 20 per cent, but the probability of a premarital cohabitation breaking up within five years is 49 per cent. After 10 years, the probability of a first marriage ending is 33 per cent, compared with 62 per cent for cohabitations.

A 15-year-long study found that a person’s happiness level before marriage was the best predictor of happiness after marriage. In other words, marriage won’t automatically make one happy. Couples rank sharing household chores as third most important for a successful marriage, next to faithfulness and fulfilling sex.

Women who report a fair division of housework were happier in their marriages than women who thought their husbands didn’t do their fair share. Wives also spent more quality time with their husbands when they thought the housework was divided fairly.

Researchers found a huge decline in happiness four years into a marriage with another decline in years seven to eight. In fact, half of all divorces occur in the first seven years of marriage, which gives rise to the popular term ‘the seven-year itch.’

While couples with children are less likely to divorce than childless couples, the arrival of a new baby is more likely to bring more stress and emotional distance than new happiness. Nearly 90 per cent of couples experienced decrease in martial satisfaction after the birth of their first child.

A person’s level of education influences the age at which they marry. Couples tend to marry later in states with higher numbers of college-educated adults, while the opposite is true for states with lower education levels. A New Woman’s Day and AOL Living poll found that 72 per cent of women surveyed have considered leaving their husbands at some point.

Throughout most of history, marriage was not necessarily based on mutual love, but an institution devoted to acquiring in-laws and property and to provide the family additional labour forces (by having children).

Words form only 7 per cent of our communication with anyone, including spouses. Tone of voice accounts for 38 per cent and body language is responsible for 55 per cent of the messages spouses receive from each other.

Married people are twice as likely to go to church as unmarried people. Research points to certain characteristics that are most often linked to infidelity, such as being raised in a family where having affairs is considered normal, having a personality that values excitement and risk taking over marital stability, having co-workers and friends who believe affairs are acceptable, and feeling emotionally distant from one’s spouse.

Approximately $6 billion in revenue is lost annually by American businesses as a result of decreased worker productivity linked to marriage hardship. Employees in a happy marriage, in contrast, tend to increase a company’s bottom line.

On the bright side marriage does more to promote life satisfaction than money, sex, or even children, say Wake Forest University psychologists. Compared to singles, married people accumulate about four times more savings and assets. Those who divorced had assets 77 per cent lower than singles.

Same-sex marriage has happened throughout history with differing levels of acceptance. The first recorded mention of same-sex marriage occurs in ancient Rome and seems to have occurred without too much debate until Christianity became the official religion. In 1989, Denmark was the first post-Christianity nation to legally recognize same-sex marriage. No sex in a marriage has a much more powerful negative impact on a marriage than good sex has a positive impact.