While marrying for love has always seemed like the best option, there are some other science-backed reasons too for a relationship to be successful.
When it comes to marriage, we believe love and faith could be enough to make your relationship an everlasting one. But when choosing a life partner, there are so many other factors we look at, like the person's income, their long-term goals, core personality, and of course, their age. While it is a common practice for men to marry younger women, in some cases much younger, there are many couples who don't believe that men should necessarily be older to them. In some relationships, the couples are the same age, and in some, the woman might be older.
But all said and done, does the age gap between a man and woman play any role in the success of the marriage?
According to a study conducted by Emory University in Atlanta, the age gap between the man and the woman could determine if the relationship will be an everlasting one or not. They also found out an ideal age gap that could ensure a long and successful marriage.
Looking at 3,000 married couples in the United States, researchers found that couples with a 5-year age gap are 18% more likely to split than an equal-age couple. As the gap grows it only gets worse - relationships with a 10-year age gap are 39% more likely to break up, and couples with a 20-year age gap have a 95% chance of splitting up.
So then what is the right age gap? According to the study, a 1-year age gap is a sweet spot, with the chances of divorce standing at a much less intimidating 3%. However, does that mean that couples with a year's age gap have no risks of getting divorced? No. Researcher Hugo Mialon believes “It could just be that the types of couples with those characteristics are the types of couples who are, on average, more likely to divorce for other reasons.”
Although the study hasn't specified why a one-year age gap is considered the best, there could be some self-inferrable justifications for this conclusion. Certain factors which help a relationship nurture and grow are healthy communication, trust, compatibility, supporting each others' goal, etc. While none of them completely depends on age, a large gap could mean different views and approaches towards life and relationships.
Therefore, it might be safe to say that a partner of the same age or around the same age as yours could prove to be a companion for life.
However, you might say that there are couples with large age gaps who have stuck together for life. In this case, the more likely factor could be children. Married people who chose to have children are likely to stay together even after challenges and large age gaps. Although it should be noted, that while they might not part ways, it opens an entirely different box of marital troubles.
"Having children may postpone a divorce, but often it ends upbringing even more tension to a relationship and more to argue about, more costs, more demands on their time, which all lead to stress, which often leads to divorce," says Randy Kessler, an expert on family dynamics and divorce, as per VT.
In simple words; it is safe to say that if you want to be in a committed relationship it would more likely last if you are with someone who isn't too old or too young for you. If you want that relationship to be sustaining and happy, go for someone who is around the same age as you. However, if you are already in love with someone with whom you have a significant age gap, it does not really mean that your relationship is meant to be shortlived; it means that you might have to put in more effort in it and adapt to each other's differences. And who knows, in the process of accepting each other, this might bring you closer to each other than ever. After all, love has the power to turn any unfavorable situation around.
References:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2501480
https://vt.co/lifestyle/relationships/new-study-reveals-ideal-age-gap-relationship/
