Call us hopeless romantics, but we’ve always liked to imagine that long-lasting love has little do with wealth or status.
But, at least according to the results of one new study, it looks like money may have more of a bearing on relationships than we would have hoped.
Yep, new research from Cornell University claims that an unexpected factor may have an impact on a couple’s likelihood of staying together: equality in income…
After studying data from large US surveys on income, covering over 60,000 people for almost 20 years, lead author Patrick Ishizuka found that cohabiting straight couples with equal earnings are the most likely to stay together.
‘Equality appears to promote stability,’ he said in a release. ‘Equality in men’s and women’s economic contributions may hold these couples together.’
On top of his, Ishizuka claims that couples are more likely to walk down the aisle once they have collectively attained a certain level of wealth, dubbed ‘the marriage bar’.
‘Once couples have reached a certain income and wealth threshold, they’re more likely to marry,’ he said.
‘They want to have a house and a car and enough savings to have a big wedding; and they also want to have stable jobs and a steady income,’ he said.
‘It’s really the couple’s combined resources that seem to matter,’ he concluded in his research, recently published in the journal Demography.
Indeed, Ishizuka goes on to claim that couples with a low joint income are the most likely to split up…
‘Economically disadvantaged couples are also more likely to separate,’ he said.
Hmm, we reckon plenty of couples could prove him wrong!
