Why do people wait until marriage

And despite these statistics, relationships and sex are too nuanced to assume that the same conditions will work for everyone. While waiting for marriage is often a choice rooted in religious beliefs, these results actually remain statistically significant among different control groups, such as level of religious activity, number of previous sexual partners, education level and so on.

So regardless of how religious someone is, how much sex they have had in the past and what degrees they hold, this study indicates that waiting is, on average, beneficial for a relationship. With the exception of this study, there is not a lot of research on whether waiting for marriage does or does not align with common assumptions about sexual satisfaction and relationship quality.

The majority of the articles on waiting for marriage are backed by religious groups or from personal blogs. More happens during sex than just a momentary experience of pleasure. When we are intimate, chemicals are released in our brains that bond us together. Vasopressin is primarily released in male brains and oxytocin primarily in females.

However, when we bond then break, bond then break, we damage our capacity to bond strongly to the next person1. The first time you apply it to a surface, it bonds strongly. These effects are lessened but still consistent in those who became sexually active later in dating but prior to marriage. Likewise, sex while dating can sometimes be thought of as an important way to test if a couple are compatible and whether the relationship can stand the test of time, another assumption that appears disproven by the data.

In summary, the longer a dating couple waits to have sex, the better their relationship is after marriage. Another study3 found that rapid sexual involvement has adverse long-term implications for relationship quality. So why is this? Why might sexual restraint be more beneficial for couples than premarital sex? The evidence appears to point to two reasons, intentional partner selection and sexual symbolism4.

But whenever the topic of waiting until marriage comes up with my friends, the conversation revolves around one main subject: What if, like pieces from different jigsaw puzzles, your parts don't quite mesh? Or the chemistry is missing? She's not the only one. The act took some getting used to, even though she read Sex for Dummies. Overall, she's glad she waited, but sometimes she wonders about what could have been.

Part of me wishes I had tried sex before so that I knew what worked and what I liked," she says. Early sexual fumbling with a spouse can just make the relationship stronger. Like Jett, Krista M. I have no doubt the sex will be amazing," she says.

And it certainly can be! Some people find that the sex they have on their wedding nights goes beyond everything they'd hoped for. April H.