研究：夫妻年齡相近的婚姻更長久

這對愛吃嫩草的熟女而言，可不是什麼好消息。據英國《每日郵報》報道，一項新研究在調查了3000名剛結婚和離婚的美國人後發現，夫妻年齡差距越小，離婚的機率也越低。

研究人員指出，如果和伴侶的年齡差在五歲以內，就沒什麼好擔心的，但是如果一方年齡大到足以做另一方的父母，那這兩人的婚姻就很難走到最後。

研究還發現，生育小孩可大大降低離婚機率。

For women on the lookout for Mr Right, it might pay to search for someone your own age.

According to a new study that compiled polling data from more than 3,000 recently married and divorced Americans, the closer you are in age to your husband, the greater your chances of avoiding divorce.

'The authors pointed out that is a significant correlation between wider age gaps and increased divorce,' explained Randy Olson, a data visualizer who illustrated the study, which was published on the Social Science Research Network.

'Only being one to five years away from your partner is nothing to worry about, but if you’re old enough to be your partner’s parent, then your marriage might be in trouble,' he explained.

However, shortfalls of the study mean 'it is not possible to determine the relative percent likelihood' of a marriage's success or failure based on age alone, Mr Olson added.

The study, which used a multivariate model to calculate factors that best predict a marriage's chances of success, also looked at money, children, and the length of time a couple spends dating before they tie the knot.

Some interesting findings include: having a baby with your spouse can decrease your chances of divorce by as much as 76 percent compared to couples who do not have children.

And even having children out of wedlock still reduces the long-term chances of divorce, according to the study.

It seems that education difference matters more for women than men when it comes to marriage success.

Women are 50 percent more likely to end up divorced when there is an education difference versus men at only 32 percent more likely.

However, as Mr Olson notes, it is important to keep in mind that these predictors are simply correlated to marriage stability, 'and they could be telling us any number of things,' he explained.

'Either people in stabler marriages are more likely to have kids in wedlock, or people in less stable (unhappy) marriages tend not to have kids.

'Keep an open mind when thinking about what could really be driving these correlations with marriage stability,' said Mr Olson.