Nicholas H. Wolfinger reported on the Institute of Family Studies website the relationship between the number of premarital partners and divorce, and the trends analyzed in the 1980’s, 1990’s, and 2000’s all show the same trend: “Premarital sex with one partner substantially increases the odds of divorce.” In fact, a look at the provided graph shows that just one premarital partner quadruples the chance for divorce in the 2000’s data set, from 5% to approximately 20%, and two premarital partners sextuples the divorce rate, from 5% to 30%! Wolfinger does spend a significant amount of time theorizing as to why the highest divorce rates can be found at two premarital partners and 10 premarital partners in recent times, but it is clear that it is a slippery slope to the plateau of divorce rates for those with premarital sexual partners.

Other reported statistics:

  • “Caucasian and African American women had similar premarital sexual behavior, but Latinas and members of the ‘Other’ population group had notably fewer sex partners and lower divorce rates than either whites or blacks.”
  • “Similarly, people who grew up without both parents had more partners and divorced more.”
  • “It won’t be surprising to most readers that people with more premarital sex partners have higher divorce rates, broadly speaking.”