In our previous chronicles of overdetermination, we've learned that everything makes you more likely to overeat and pretty much everything has more germs than a toilet seat. This morning, we learned that if your husband just lost his job you're now more likely to get a divorce. The academics behind the study explained that the opposite was not true: a wife's employment status had "no effect on the likelihood that her husband will opt to leave the marriage."

If you're a little disheartened by the news, cheer up: pretty much everything is linked by research to a higher divorce rate. Here's just a small sample of the surprising, not-so-surprising, and just-plain-odd things that studies have linked to divorce. Needless to say, we'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't fit in one of the below criteria:

• If your spouse has been playing lots of video games you're more likely to get a divorce
• If your friends get divorced you're more likely to get a divorce (147 percent more likely to be specific)
• If you're a parent with a first-born daughter you're more likely to get a divorce
• If you're a husband with a convenient "divorce gene" you're more likely to get a divorce
• If your husband doesn't help with housework you're more likely to get a divorce
• If you're a long-distance commuter you're more likely to get a divorce
• If you're a parent of twins you're more likely to get a divorce
• If you're a man educated in a single-sex school you're apparently more likely to get a divorce
• If you're a couple that's lived together before marriage you're more likely to get a divorce (this research has been countered and endlessly debated)

• If you're a woman who's had "mixed feelings" but still had sex as a teen you're more likely to get a divorce (the study's findings were notably questioned here)
• If you're in a relationship where a partner has a serious illness like cancer, you're more likely to get divorced (Men are more likely to initiate divorce if their wives are diagnosed with the ailment)

So, if you're a newly wed--or even just a romantic at-heart--that list could be a little depressing. Here's an upside, for women at least, they're more likely to cope better with divorce than men are.

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Erik Hayden