When it comes to important relationship milestones, moving in with your partner is one of the biggest. More couples are choosing to shack up before saying “I do” than ever before, but according to a new study, living together before marriage is an intimacy killer.
- The science speaks for itself. Couples who lived together before getting married had less sex than those who didn’t. When they did have sex, it was of lower quality and much less satisfying. Not only that, but couples who dated a long time before tying the knot also reported having less and worse sex during the first year of marriage.
- It only applies to straight couples. The research, published in The Journal of Sex Research, focused on data gathered from 113 straight couples in their 20s, tracking their rates of sexual satisfaction for the first four years of marriage. It also took other elements into account, like whether or not they lived together before they got married and whether or not they had kids before walking down the aisle. That being said, their findings can only be applied to heterosexual couples, so keep that in mind.
- Thankfully, the findings aren’t permanent. One interesting thing the researchers discovered was that if these couples managed to get past four years of marriage, the differences in sex life satisfaction between couples who lived together and those who didn’t all but disappear. Crazy, right? In year four, couples who lived together before marriage suddenly started having sex again and were happier with their intimacy, so that’s good news.
- More research needs to be done on this topic. Researchers say that while the findings of this particular study are fascinating, more studies should be performed to further explore why this happens and how it might affect divorce and separation rates in those first few years of marriage.
