Incompatible Drinking Habits Linked to Divorce

 Posted on February 14,2013 in Divorce

According to recent research data, spouses who use about the same amount of alcohol were not as likely to divorce as couples where one partner drinks a lot and the other does not. Data was collected from almost 20,000 married couples in Norway, according to the LA Times.

The results of the study suggest that divorce was generally more common in marriages where the rate of alcohol consumption was high. However, the highest divorce rates were found in marriages where only the woman drank a lot. The divorce rate was 26.8% in marriages where the wife was a heavy drinker and the husband a light drinker. When the husband was the one doing all the drinking, the divorce rate was only 13.1%. When both husband and wife consumed alcohol in vast quantities, the divorce rate was 17.2%.

One of the reasons for the higher divorce rate among marriages where the wife drank excessively may be that women appear to be affected more strongly by drinking than men are. Furthermore, drinking is sometimes viewed as incompatible with being a woman, which may threaten marital stability.

"Couples who intend to marry should be aware of the drinking pattern of their partner, since it may become a problem in the future," said Norwegian Institute of Public Health director Ellinor F. Major. It may be a good idea for both husbands and wives to aim for matching amounts of drinking. Married couples in the study who both were light drinkers divorced only 5.8% of the time.

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