Marry an Older Man for a Happy Ever After?

According to scientists at the University of Bath, marrying an older man means you are more likely to have a successful marriage and even more so if you are better educated than he is.

The recent study which has been published in the European Journal of Operational Research is based on interviews conducted with over 1,500 couples who are either married or in a serious relationship. The researchers contacted each couple five years later to see if they were still together.

5 Years Older

The results revealed that women who were more than five years older than their partners were three times more likely to have split or divorced than those who were of the same age. When the age gap was reversed then the likelihood of wedded bliss was found to be much higher.

Better Educated?

The study also found that the odds are stacked even more in the woman’s favour if she is better educated than the man she weds. Those marrying for the first time also stand a better chance of a long and happy partnership than if one of them has been previously divorced.

Apparently, celebrity Beyonce is blessed because she is both younger and smarter (and a bit prettier too?) than husband Jay-Z?

Should We Be Worried?

So what do we learn from this? Well, basically, to have the best possible chance of living happily forever after you should marry a man who is a little older – which is generally what happens anyway. And, just to make sure, you should marry a man who is less intelligent than you are, which, let’s be honest, isn’t going to be hard is it?

If, by chance, you are already betrothed to a younger man then good luck –after all, you’re not really going to take this too seriously are you?