We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.

Does a Wife Being Smarter than Her Husband Make for a Happier Marriage?

Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 24,840
Share

Researchers from the Geneva School of Business have developed a formula for increasing the chances of having a long-lasting and happy marriage by up to 20%. It's based on a variety of factors that tend to impact most marriages: age, cultural background, and intelligence. Ideally, the husband should be five years older than the wife and they should share the same cultural background, but the wife should be around 27% smarter than the husband, though a range of being 13% to 35% smarter is acceptable, according to these researchers.

More about marriages, relationships, and formulas:

  • A pop cultural formula for determining whether it's appropriate to have an intimate relationship with someone is the half-your-age-plus-seven rule. For example, by this rule, a person who is 30 would be OK having a relationship with someone who's 22, but no younger.
  • There's also a formula for finding the ideal age to propose. To calculate it, a person takes the oldest age that he or she would consider being married (A) and then subtracts the youngest age at which he or she would want to get married at (B) from it. He or she then multiplies the result by 0.368, and adds the result to B.
  • The marriage rate of those 18 and older in the US decreased 5% between 2009 and 2010, going down to about 51%.
Share

Editors' Picks

Discussion Comments
By anon333407 — On May 05, 2013

Maybe it's about having the wherewithal to humor or tolerate his particular "deficits"!

By anon332909 — On May 01, 2013

I have little faith in quantitative measures for this type of study. Relationships cannot be reliably understood by statistics.

By anon332822 — On May 01, 2013

Two things:

1) There is the joke about the wife who, while at a party, discovers he husband has a mistress. The wife demands a divorce. The husband tells her that her lifestyle will then go bye-bye.

The wife thinks about it, and as she does, a known mistress of another enters the room. The wife says "Our whore is prettier than his."

2) A study noted the happiest marriages are where the woman gets her way. Would this study indicate how smart she is to achieve it? (Unexpected consequence: it still puts the onus on the woman! Dagwood/Blondie syndrome?)

By anon332818 — On May 01, 2013

Intelligence in what way? The intelligence to know how to lie in a way that seems plausible? Then, when confronted with the truth, she's smart enough to lie her way out of that? Is that intelligence that will be healthy and conducive to a healthy, happy, and constructive relationship? Not hardly.

By anon332816 — On May 01, 2013

Is this general intelligence or a subset? There is also emotional age. Was this factored in? There is the statistic of the approximately 10 percent who break the rules. Was this factor weighed? As with all studies, how was success defined -- money, children, social standing or what?

Share
https://www.wisegeek.net/does-a-wife-being-smarter-than-her-husband-make-for-a-happier-marriage.htm
Copy this link
WiseGeek, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

WiseGeek, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.