What's Love Got to Do With It?

So, you've met the 'love of your life' after years of hapless dating; memories of joining dating services and beavering away at the online dating services are but a distant memory. Surely you're destined for a life lived happily ever after?

Or perhaps not... researchers have discovered that there are many factors that determine whether a couple will last the distance: and it doesn't just come down to love and fluffiness.

Cunningly called What's Love Got to Do With It?, the study looked at two and a half thousand couples who were either co-habiting or had been married for more than six years. And no matter what your dating history with your beloved, it turns out that smoking, alcohol consumption, age and ex-lovers all have a bearing on whether a relationship has long-term legs.

And (a sad result for those of us dedicating much of our live to perusing internet dating sites) it turns out that one-in-four relationships are destined for the scrap heap before they hit six years - and more than half within twenty-five years.

In terms or age, if a man marries a woman more than nine years his junior, they've got a 50% greater chance of getting divorced. So all you blokes who think you're the business for dating a younger woman, take heed...

If you have children from an earlier relationship, I'm afraid that one in five of those partnerships don't work out - that's twice the failure rate of couples who start dating with no kids. And unsurprisingly, children (or the lack of them) are a huge factor in determining the success of a partnership, with women who want children more than their husband being much more likely to separate.

For all you party-goers out there, you better make sure you hook up with someone who likes their smoking and drinking as much as you (ie, be truthful on your internet dating profile!) because women who smoke or consume more alcohol than their partners are much more likely to end up being dumped.

Contrary to what some of the high-end dating services might have us belief, issues such as education and religious background seem to be less of an issue when it comes to length - and strength - of relationships.

Dr R Kippen, who wrote the report, cites how important the research could be as a basis for deciding whether marriage or long-term partnership is viable for individual couples. It seems science is only just catching up with what the internet dating services, with their endless drop-down menus, have long known - that you need to invest the time in determining your compatibility to avoid wasting countless years dating someone who's going to ditch you before six years are out...