Pre-wedding jitters? Study probes what they mean

(Relaxnews) - US researchers have put to the test the folk wisdom that pre-wedding doubts and jitters may be a warning sign for trouble ahead in your marriage.

In a study announced Thursday, UCLA psychologists found that women who had cold feet about getting married were more likely to have problems in their marriage and higher divorce rates.

"People think everybody has premarital doubts and you don't have to worry about them," said Justin Lavner, a UCLA doctoral candidate in psychology and lead author of the study. "We found they are common but not benign."

"Newlywed wives who had doubts about getting married before their wedding were two-and-a-half times more likely to divorce four years later than wives without these doubts," he adds. "You know yourself, your partner and your relationship better than anybody else does; if you're feeling nervous about it, pay attention to that," he adds. "It's worth exploring what you're nervous about."

Researchers studied 232 couples in Los Angeles within the first few months of marriage and conducted follow-up surveys every six months for four years. When asked if they had doubts before getting married, 47 percent of husbands and 38 percents of wives said yes. Yet while women were less likely than men to have doubts, their doubts were more meaningful in predicting trouble after the wedding, the researchers said.

The research is published in the online version of the Journal of Family Psychology. Copyright (AFP RELAXNEWS), 2012.

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