You Don't Need the Big Bling

New research suggests the bigger the diamond the bigger the divorce rate. So stop dropping hints to your boyfriend with pictures of that $14,000 Harry Winston designer ring. You know the one!
A recent study by Economics professors at Emory University has caught a lot of attention in the wedding world.  The professors surveyed 3,000 adults who are or have been married at some point in their lives.  The study concluded two main findings:

1. A man who spent $2,000 to $4,000 on an engagement ring is 1.3 times more likely to have their marriage end in divorce than a man who spent between $500 and $2,000.
2. Also spending too little on an engagement ring has caused backfire for divorce rates.  Those spending less than $500 on a ring experience higher divorce rates.

The professors of the study suggest a correlation between the high cost of an engagement ring and divorce is because of financial stress placed upon the couple. The wedding industry is often to blame for creating a new standard of wedding expectations and stress for a bride and groom.  These standards pressure to spend even when the finances aren't there.  In the study, researchers say, "Prior to World War II, in Western countries, only 10 percent of engagement rings contained a diamond.  By the end of the century, about 80 percent did.  In 2012, total expenditures on diamond rings were roughly $7 billion in the United States."