New Report Finds Link Between Strong Marriages and Sexual Restraint During the Dating Years
PROVO, Utah, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For many young adults, single life in American culture has become synonymous with sexual experimentation in both committed romantic dating relationships and casual sexual hook-ups. However, most single adults in the United States today still desire to one day have a successful, lifelong marriage. Because of these trends, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that over half of married adults in the United States enter marriage today having had five or more previous sexual partners.
- Are these dating patterns compatible with the future desire for a loving and lasting marriage?
- In fact, the report reviews a series of recent studies using several different national datasets showing that having multiple sexual partners during the dating years leads to higher divorce rates in future marriages.
- The report entitled, "The Myth of Sexual Experience: Why Sexually Inexperienced Dating Couples Actually Go On to Have Stronger Marriages," found that between 10% to 20% of married adults report that they have only engaged in sexual intercourse with their spouse.
- These findings remained strong even when statistically controlling for a range of variables including biological sex, religiosity and relationship length, these findings held strong.