Cutting Edge Solutions...

Old Style Service And Values

Attorneys Vic Hill and Brad MacDonald

Do ‘cold feet’ before marriage signal impending divorce?

It is safe to say that a majority of Atlanta couples experience a good deal of anxiety and nerves during the engagement process, and especially in the months, days and minutes leading up to their wedding. But according to a new study, couples who experience those normal feelings at above-average levels may be more likely to divorce than others who wed with little to no anxiety and uncertainty.

In the study, researchers examined 464 newlyweds over a period of four years, questioning them on their feelings prior to getting married, how they felt after the wedding and whether they marriages ended in divorce. In sum, they found that couples who experienced uncertainty prior to tying the knot were less satisfied with their marriages overall. Interestingly, wives’ feelings of doubt and indecision more aptly predicted whether the couple would divorce better than husbands’ similar feelings.

Overall, 38 percent of wives and 47 percent of husbands reported having doubts prior to walking down the aisle. Nearly 20 percent of those women ended up divorcing their spouses, compared to 8 percent of the women who did not report any feelings of indecision or uncertainty. In comparison, 14 percent of men who had doubts got divorced, compared to 9 percent that were not doubtful.

According to family law attorneys, divorced spouses who report feeling doubt before getting married often report that, in hindsight, the signs were all there. However, it is easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of getting engaged and married, and to sweep those indicators right under the rug. Unfortunately, it seems that those issues never truly go away.

Source: USA Today, “Pre-marriage doubts signal unhappy unions, divorce,” Sharon Jayson, Sept. 14, 2012