Heavy Drinking Couples Less Likely to Get Divorced, University of Buffalo Research Reveals

A customer samples a glass of wine at Oinoscent wine bar in central Athens October 30, 2013.

University of Buffalo researchers studied couples in the first nine years of their marriage. They found that couples are more likely to get divorced if one of them was a heavy drinker. However, if both of them are heavy drinkers, they are less likely to get divorced; the study reveals. The interesting part of the revelation is that alcoholic couples have almost the same frequency of sustaining their marriage like that of couples who do not drink at all.

Dr Kenneth Leonard is the lead author of the research. Mr Leonard said that the results indicated that the main reason behind marital dissatisfaction was the difference of drinking habits between the couple. Drinking itself is not directly involved among the reasons which may cause marital discord.

The study went on for nine years as it observed 634 couples. It was observed that couples got divorced 50 per cent of the time when one of the two had heavy drinking habits. On the other hand, when both the partners drank heavily or did not drink at all, the rate of divorce was 30 per cent. Dr Leonard has mentioned that spouses who have heavy drinking habits may end up being more tolerant to drinking and its negative effects as they are got used to it themselves.

Even though heavy drinking couples did stay together more frequently, their drinking habits definitely affected their family life. The study does not have any intention of encouraging drinking, together or alone, by any means as it also shows that heavy drinking couples have every possibility of creating a hostile climate for their children.

While people have different definitions of what can possibly be called as 'heavy drinking,' the research too had its own definition. If anyone took over 6 drinks in a particular night or got drunk until intoxicated, the person was called a 'heavy 'drinker' for the research reference.

The study is co-authored by Philip Smith and Gregory Homish, PhD students of the University of Buffalo.