In a study reported on in the Daily Mail this week, a researcher finds that women who have had none or only one sexual partner before marriage are the least likely to divorce. Those with ten or more partners are most likely to divorce.

However, he shows that those who had no sexual partners before marriage, or just one, were also very likely to be religious and those who practice religion are also least likely to divorce.

A seeming anomaly is that those with two sexual partners prior to marriage are more likely to divorce than those with three or four. He wonders if this is because the second sexual relationship would have been intense and long-lasting and some women may be carrying ‘baggage’ from this into their marriage.

In any case, the figures are interesting in themselves and should give encouragement to those who wait until they have met their future spouse before embarking on a sexual relationship. This is quite contrary to the advice (so to speak) of the sexual revolution which would have it that the number of sexual partners you have has no effect on any other part of your life, including your future marriage.