A recent paper examining the correlation of more premarital sex partners with more divorce has found it is not due simply to sample selection, but to some inherent destabilising factor in the sexual relationships themselves.

The paper by Jesse Smith and Nicholas H. Wolfinger in Journal of Family Issues ruled out numerous factors including religiuosity, sexual attitudes, and psychological attributes, as explanations for the phenomenon.

This left them with two broad possible explanations for their results.

“One is that there could be a causal relationship here: having premarital sexual partners, especially a lot of them, does in fact undermine the prospect of a successful marriage. Perhaps as people accumulate partners, they find that breakups get easier, develop an “other fish in the sea” mentality, or move into peer groups with weaker marriage norms, any of which might make divorce seem like more of an option”.

“The other possibility is that selection mechanisms might still be driving these differences, but we need to reconsider what those mechanisms are. Maybe there are genetic factors at work, or unmeasured psychological traits such as hypersexuality that contribute to both promiscuity and divorce”.