The best age to get married ... to avoid getting divorced.

Forget communicating and marriage counselling and date nights. The key to avoiding divorce is choosing the right age at which to get married.

It’s not about having sex every day.

It’s not about supporting each other’s dreams.

It’s not about fessing up to how much money you just racked up on the credit card.

A new report claims the key to a lasting marriage is to get hitched between the ages of 28 and 32. This goes against previous studies claiming the longer you wait to get married, the better.

Break up registries are a thing. Article continues after this video.

The study, conducted by the University of Utah, found those who married in this age bracket were less likely to split up. Sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger says the reasons one shouldn’t marry too young are obvious. You don’t really know yourself well enough when you are young and are still under the influence of parents and friends when it comes to who you end up in a relationship with.

For instance, someone who marries at 25 is over 50 percent less likely to get divorced than is someone who weds at age 20. Most youthful couples simply do not have the maturity, coping skills, and social support it takes to make marriage work. In the face of routine marital problems, teens and young twenty-somethings lack the wherewithal necessary for happy resolutions.

But older couples are no longer doing better, with those well into their thirties facing an increased risk of divorce.

So why is the magic age bracket for marriage 28-32? The study didn't go so far as to find out the reasons why, however Wolfinger says he has an idea, suggesting that those who don't marry until later in life are less likely have a personality that suits marriage in the first place.

Consequently they delay marriage, often because they can’t find anyone willing to marry them. When they do tie the knot, their marriages are automatically at high risk for divorce. More generally, perhaps people who marry later face a pool of potential spouses that has been winnowed down to exclude the individuals most predisposed to succeed at matrimony.

Wolfinger found that for every year after 32 you wait to get married, your chance of getting divorce increases by five per cent per year, which is huge!

So the tip is to wait to get married, but don't wait for too long.

To read more relationship research visit the Institute of Family Studies website.