The general consensus amongst social scientists is that children cause a drop in marital and relationship satisfaction.Moreover, marital satisfaction usually doesn't begin to recover until children "leave the nest". Raising kids is certainly worthwhile, but that doesn't change the fact that it's immensely difficult even with careful planning.

Arrival Of Children

A couple should probably make sure they can successfully cohabitate before deciding to spend the rest of their lives together. However, there's no scientific evidence that premarital cohabitation improves marriage quality or reduces divorce rates.

Living Together Before Marriage

There's no evidence that differences lead to greater attraction or improved relationship outcomes. Similarity does predict attraction and relationship success.

Attraction Between Opposites 

Research indicates that measured physiological signs of arousal are self-reported more accurately in men than in women. Also, straight and lesbian women show physiological signs of arousal when watching sexual videos regardless of who was with whom. The gap between the arousal that women report and the arousal they feel, is theorized to be a consequence of societal repression.

 The Libido Of Men And Women

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<figure><img src="https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/569a96d5c08a8081028ba30a-750-563.jpg"> REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz </figure>Popular culture perpetuates a lot of poor information about intimate relationships. 
 The systematic disinformation can, and does, lead people astray, and not just into hilariously awkward situations (see almost any romantic comedy), but into genuine misery. 
 In fact, as social psychologist Matt Johnson made known on the very first page of his new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Great-Myths-Intimate-Relationships-Psychology/dp/1118521277"> Great Myths of Intimate Relationships</a>, the largest predictor of life satisfaction is relationship satisfaction. "So, we had better pay attention to those relationships!" 
 In his book, Johnson tried his best to pay more than mere lip service to intimate relationships. Sorting through a boatload of scientific evidence, he dispelled twenty-five myths on topics ranging from online dating, to sex, to divorce. Here are four of those myths. 
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Popular culture perpetuates a lot of poor information about intimate relationships. The systematic disinformation can, and does, lead people astray, and not just into hilariously awkward situations (see almost any romantic comedy), but into genuine misery.

4 myths about relationships

Arrival Of Children

Living Together Before Marriage

Attraction Between Opposites

The Libido Of Men And Women

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