Among couples with marriage-like commitments, same-sex couples have a similar break-up rate as heterosexual couples, according to a study.
The study also found that same-sex couples with a marriage-like commitment in the US have stable unions regardless of government recognition.
The findings come from a nationally representative survey of 3,009 couples (471 same-sex) who were followed between 2009 and 2013.
“The marriage commitment is associated with a strong benefit in couple stability for both heterosexual couples and same-sex couples,” said lead author Michael J. Rosenfeld.
For the study, researchers explored a variety of predictors of relationship dissolution for heterosexual and for same-sex couples.
They also found that longer duration of unmarried couplehood drives down the annual break-up rate but only up to a point.
“Married couples are dramatically more likely to stay together than unmarried couples at all levels of relationship quality and at all relationship durations,” Rosenfeld noted.
The study appeared in the Journal of Marriage and Family.