It's becoming more common for women to marry younger men, but for whatever reason, these marriages seem less likely to last. One study found that women three or more years older than their husbands are 53 percent more likely to get divorced than those who are just one year older or up to three years younger. Crosby can also confirm this one. "We’ve found that if a woman is much older than her husband, they are more likely to get divorced," she says. Sexton has actually seen this work the other way around, though, with older husbands and younger wives. "When people with an age difference marry, they need to think more about what that difference will look like in 10 or 20 years and less about what that difference looks like during courtship," he says.
4. Whether you've rolled your eyes at each other
One study analyzed couples' conversations and found that when they showed signs of contempt, like eye-rolling, they were more likely to end up divorced. Crosby recommends a "five-to-one ratio" to undo the effects of contempt: "For every negative interaction, you need to compensate with five positive exchanges with your partner."
5. Your incomes
Several studies have found that money is one of the leading causes of stress and conflict in relationships. Maybe that's why lower-income couples are more likely to divorce. Sexton says having two very different incomes or socioeconomic backgrounds can also put a strain on a marriage. When you watch marriages fall apart, he says, "you see a trend where one party was raised in a household with resources sufficient to enjoy 'the finer things' and the other was raised with less."
That's not to say, of course, that you'll get divorced if any of these things apply to you. But it's possible that they'll present challenges that you and your spouse will have to work through, and preparing for them can't hurt.
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