Wedding Jitters Boost Chance of Divorce

Not so sure about getting hitched? You may want to call off the wedding—especially if you're a bride-to-be. A new study shows that wives who harbored pre-marriage doubts were two-and-a-half times more likely to end up divorcing their spouse four years later, reports LiveScience. And jittery couples who weren't divorced after four years reported significantly more dissatisfaction.

"People think everybody has premarital doubts and you don't have to worry about them," says the lead researcher. "We found they are common but not benign." Nearly 50% of husbands and 38% of wives admitted doubts about tying the knot, but the women's anxiety was a better predictor of future turbulence. About one in five wives who were hesitant ended up divorced four years later, compared to 14% of husbands. The researchers analyzed 232 couples in Los Angeles. (More marriage stories.)