Less sex marks the first year of marriage for couples who wanted to test whether they could even live together before the wedding itself. The situation is improving, but only after four years.
The vast majority of couples decide to try living together before they get married and don't want to wait until the wedding day to move into a shared home. Although marriage therapists welcome the trend of cohabitation before marriage, it can actually be disastrous for sex life.
A recent study published in The Journal of Sex Research, showed that couples who lived together before marriage had less sex and lower levels of sexual satisfaction in the first year of marriage compared to those who did not live together. The researchers also found that if a couple managed to stay married for at least four years, the problems usually went away on their own. The couples in the study were on average in their late twenties.
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The study monitored the rate sexual satisfaction in the first four years of marriage and took into account all the factors that can influence the sex life of the couple, even when children are born before the formal conclusion of marriage.
It was also found that couples who dated for a year or more usually had less sex, and it was worse in the first year of marriage. If the couple had children born before marriage, this did not have a significant negative impact on the couple's sex life in the first year of marriage.
It's not all so bleak
Couples who lived together before marriage do not have to end badly. Satisfaction with sexm and its frequency comes after four years of marriage. For couples who had children earlier, the fourth year of marriage also marked the time when they started having more sex. So be brave!
