Wheatley Institute

Sixty percent of Americans believe in the idea that true love is found in a one-and-only soulmate relationship, confirming that the quest to find one’s soulmate continues to play a significant role in our modern dating culture. However, a new report finds that enduring connection in romantic relationships results more from the personal virtues and intentional efforts of the partners, than it does from spontaneous love and emotional spark.

Just one month after leaving the president’s office, Kevin J Worthen has been named as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the first BYU Wheatley Institute Distinguished Fellow in Constitutional Government.

The report reviews a series of recent studies using several different national datasets showing that having multiple sexual partners during the dating years leads to higher divorce rates in future marriages. These studies conclude that the number of sex partners a person has prior to marriage is one of the strongest predictors of divorce in social science research.

Replaces founding director Richard Williams, who will be returning to full-time teaching and research in Counseling Psychology and Special Education in the David O. McKay School of Education.