Study confirms that postponing sexual relations strengthens future marriages
A study of Utah's Brigham Young University confirms that couples who put off sexual intercourse are more likely to have strong and satisfactory marriages
Washington D.C, 6 of January 2011
The authors of the study analyzed the impact of the moment of onset of sexual intercourse in eventual marriages, through 2035 participants divided into three groups: those who had sex during the first month of initiating their bond effective (776), those who had sex after the first month and before completing two years of dating (923), and those who waited until marriage (336) to have sex.
According to The HealthDay.com news service, the authors found that married couples who delayed sexual intercourse were more likely to communicate, enjoy sex and have a more stable and satisfactory marriage than those who had sex from the beginning.
For Dean M. Busby, one of the co-authors of the study, rushing into intimacy may impede marital bliss because in many cases the promptness of sexual intercourse leads people to get married even though they are engaged in a complex bond that they don't know how to break.
Also according to research, there is a widespread belief that for a couple it is determinant to know if they have "sexual chemistry" because they consider that to be the key to a good marriage.
The study, published in the December issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, suggests that the early onset of sexual intercourse does not determine marital failure but may result in "more fragile marriages".
"Sex is important, but it's not the only thing that matters in marriage", recalls Busby.
HealthDay.com collected the accolades to the study of Mark Regnerus, author of the book "Sex before marriage in the United States", which will be published this year.
Regnerus assures that "the impulse to evaluate sexual chemistry at the beginning of a romantic relationship, if not before, is very popular" but "it just doesn't work as well as advertised".
"A good marriage -including sex- is something that is built. It Doesn't come prefabricated", he warns.