Rarely today does a family court judge need to rule on why a marriage failed: no faulted dissolutions eliminated that rather distasteful facet of the assignment. But even though it is no longer legally relevant there are at times a rather understandable curiosity. When it comes to drinking — as in so many other facets of marriage — compatibility may be key to keeping couples together.

Researchers reviewing data collected from 19,977 married couples in one county in Norway reported that spouses who consume about the same amount of alcohol were less likely to divorce than pairs where one partner is a heavy drinker and the other is not — especially when the wife is the one doing the drinking.

By reviewing such a large data set, the team, which reported its findings (abstract here, subscription required for full text in the online edition of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research,) were able to tease out some of the alcohol-related dynamics within couples that lead to marriage dissolution.