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No offense to your (very) spoiled friends, the bigger the diamond, the quicker the love would fade.
Do you ever feel jealous of your girlfriends having a (huge) engagement ring? Do not panic. According to Science, the more expensive the wedding rings, the shorter the marriage. The results of this unprecedented study appeared in the journal Economic Inquiry.
Spending less than €1000, the key to marital happiness?
For this study, 3,151 adults, with an average age of 34, were interviewed. 68% of them were married and had never divorced, while the rest of the participants were divorced.
The contestants were asked about their wedding expenses – including the cost of their engagement ring – as well as the length of their marriage.
Result ? Those who spent the most money on rings and wedding expenses were more likely to divorce.
“Spending $1,000 (€923) or less than $1,000 on your marriage is significantly associated with a reduced risk of divorce for both men and women. Conversely, spending $20,000 was significantly associated with an increased risk of divorce in the sample of women,” the researchers write.
Stress, impulsivity and debt
How can these results be explained? Could the acquisition of an expensive ring be linked to more “superficial” personality traits?
Not really. In reality, more expensive alliances would simply be linked… to greater debt. The participants would thus be more stressed by these pre-marriage debts.
“If marriage-related expenses are indeed associated with debt stress, then it is possible that expenses increase the likelihood of marital dissolution given that past studies suggest a link between economic stress and marital dissolution.“, say the scientists.
Another avenue considered by scientists: those who have spent more money can more easily bear the financial costs of divorce.
Finally, the most expensive brides and grooms could prove to be more impulsive than people with few means – for whom marriage (and its cost) represents a strong, thoughtful act.
Enough to encourage your partner to downsize?
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