Whoa there cowboy! Hold your horses! A new study says delaying sex now will lead to a more satisfying, stable relationship later on.
Okay, okay, stop me if you think you've heard this one before. I mean Mom said it. The Rules girls said it. And if I'm not mistaken, so did that little voice in the back of your head. You know, the one you always tell to shut up as you're ordering that fourth martini?
But now there's an actual study, reported in the December 28th issue of Journal of Family Psychology. Couples who had sex the earliest, (think first date, first month of dating even) had the worst relationship outcomes.
Now, full disclosure. No, your mom didn't commission the study, but it was funded by the School of Family Life and Family Studies Center at Brigham Young University, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, aka The Mormon Church. Just FYI.
In any case, researchers recruited 2,035 heterosexual married people with an average age of thirty-six. They were first asked when they first hooked up with their spouses, then answered questions how they currently communicate.
They found those who waited for wedding bells to ring:
- Rated relationship stability as 22 percent higher
- Rated relationship satisfaction as 20 percent higher
- Rated sexual quality as 15 percent better
- Rated communication as 12 percent better
Just a little something for that voice to remind you of, next time you're tempted to jump in the sack with that handsome stranger across the bar...
Local Businesses