A shared history can help make a second marriage work writes Jeff Zaslow in the Wall St. Journal's Moving On column.
Marital history is as crucial in choosing a mate as education, class, religion or race, says Hiromi Ono, a sociologist at Washington State University. She has found that previously married people are twice as likely to marry those with similar marital histories.
It's human nature to gravitate toward people who know what you've been through because they've been there themselves. That's why ex-spouses of alcoholics often find each other, and why groups are created to help divorced parents socialize.
The cliché that opposites attract "is not supported by research," says Terri Orbuch of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. "Similarities attract, and that's what keeps people together for the long term."
Posted by Jill Fallon at January 19, 2006 8:50 PM | Permalink