幸福婚姻的祕訣:抵制婚前性行爲

The Beckhams say that quality time is the secret behind their happy marriage, while Michael Douglas once credited Viagra with the secret to his.

But, according to a new study, it is couples who delay sex until after the wedding that enjoy a stronger relationship later in life.

Scientists at the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University, in Utah interviewed 2,035 married people about when they first had sex with their partner.

Analysis of the results showed that couples who waited until marriage before having sex enjoyed a much healthier relationship with their partner than those who started having sex in the early part of their relationship.

In particular, relationship stability was rated 22 per cent higher, relationship satisfaction was 20 per cent higher, quality of sex was 15 per cent better and even communication between partners was 12 per cent better.

For couples who became sexually involved later in their relationship, but before marriage, the benefits were about half as strong.

The research supports the decisions made by celebrities such as actress Lisa Kudrow, who had not had sex before she married her advertising executive husband Michel Stern, and pop stars The Jonas Brothers.

While it is common for couples to explore their sexual compatibility before making a long-term commitment, the researchers argued that too much emphasis is put on the physical side of a relationship, and too little on trust, loyalty and commitment.

Professor Dean Busby, who led the study, said: 'There's more to a relationship than sex, but we did find that those who waited longer were happier with the sexual aspect of their relationship. I think it's because they've learned to talk and have the skills to work with issues that come up.'

Given that religious beliefs often play a role for couples who choose to wait, the researchers took any influence of religion into account.

'Regardless of how religious a couple are, waiting helps the relationship form better a communication process and this improves long-term stability and relationship satisfaction,' added Professor Busby.

貝克漢姆夫婦稱他們婚姻幸福的祕訣是多和家人在一起，而邁克爾•道格拉斯則一度把他的美滿婚姻歸功於“偉哥”。

但是一項新調查顯示，那些婚後纔開始性生活的夫婦們日後的感情關係會更穩固。

猶他州楊百翰大學家庭生活學院的科學家們採訪了2035位已婚人士，記錄了他們第一次與配偶發生性關係的時間。

通過分析數據，科學家們發現，相對於在戀愛初期就發生性關係的夫婦來說，在婚後纔開始有性行爲的夫婦的感情生活更爲健康。

具體來說，後者比前者的感情穩定性高22%，感情滿意度高20%，“性福度”高15%，甚至配偶間的交流也比前者多12%。

而對於那些在戀愛關係後期、結婚之前發生性行爲的夫婦來說，相應的益處也打了五折。

研究的結果與女演員麗薩•庫卓和流行歌星喬納斯兄弟等名人的觀點一致。麗薩•庫卓的丈夫米歇爾•斯特恩是一位廣告業高管，在他們結婚之前，麗薩未曾有過性行爲。

雖然在作出長久承諾之前，情侶們普遍都想確定雙方是否會“性和諧”，但是研究人員稱，人們過於注重婚姻關係中的“性”方面，而沒有充分重視信任、忠誠以及承諾。

該研究的領頭人迪恩•巴斯比教授說：“一段感情中除了性，還有很多其它的東西。但是我們確實發現，等得越久的人對他們的性生活越滿意。我認爲這是因爲他們已經學會了溝通，並掌握了應對日後出現的問題的技巧。”

鑑於選擇等待的人一般都是出於宗教信仰，研究人員也將宗教影響力考慮在內。

巴斯比教授還說：“不管一對夫婦有多虔誠，等待都有助於他們形成更完善的溝通方式，從而提高感情的長期穩定性以及滿意度。”

Vocabulary:

quality time: 和家人相聚的時間，黃金時光