Study: Couples Who Wait Longer to Have Sex, Live Together, More Likely to Report Higher Marriage Quality

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia finds that survey subjects who waited longer to have sex with their significant other were more likely to have a higher quality marriage.

The study, conducted as part of the National Marriage Project, found that nearly one-third of respondents said that their relationship with their eventual spouse began as “a hook-up.” The researchers did not define “hooking up,” rather, allowing the respondents to do so themselves. However, those respondents who said their relationship began as a “hook-up” were less likely to have a higher quality marriage. Of those who said their relationship began that way, only 36 percent ranked in the top 40 percent of overall respondents for marriage quality. Forty-two percent of those who said their relationship did not begin as a hook-up placed in the top 40 percent of marriage quality.

Researchers also said that the longer into their relationship that couples waited to have sex, the more likely they were to see higher levels of marital quality.

A larger gap in marriage quality, however, was seen when looking at responses to whether or not respondents and their spouse had lived together before making the commitment to get married. According to the research, just 31 percent of those who cohabited before having plans to marry ranked in the top 40 percent of overall marriage quality. However, 43 percent of respondents who had waited until after making plans to marry one another ranked in that same upper class of marriage quality.

Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio