This past year has been an interesting one, and to commemorate the short amount of time we have left we decided to compile the most interesting relationship findings of 2012. Our readers might be feeling like lovelorn lonely souls, but never forget that divorce papers are just a new beginning for you. Quite fitting, isn’t it? The New Year is about reflection and renewal, so why not vow to learn from these findings and put them to good use in future relationships? Sounds like a good idea to us!
Love is No Game
In a Brigham Young University study, couples reported lower satisfaction in the relationship when one spouse’s gaming got in the way of a bedtime routine. 75% of non-gaming spouses wished their partners would give the relationship more effort. But when both spouses were gamers, the majority of the spouses reported higher satisfaction in the relationship.
Moral of the story: Be careful of the games you play in love.
Australian Honeymoon Marriage
In an Australian study, newlyweds were found to be happier after the first year of marriage than they were right after the wedding. Apparently, the honeymoon phase doesn’t exist in the land Down Under; the honeymoon phase is the entire marriage. The researchers were surprised to find the newlyweds have a lower happiness score after the wedding, but attributed the gloom to what they dubbed a “wedding hangover.” Wedding hangover is the slightly depressed feeling couples experience when the magic and fairytale wedding is over and the marriage starts.
Moral of the story: Get married in Australia for a lasting, loving marriage.
Young Idealists
A survey of married and single people aged 18-29 found the younger generations to believe marriages should last a lifetime. 86% of the young adults surveyed expressed their views that marriage should be forever. While the researcher, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, believes this is a romantic, idealistic view of marriage, he also believes this could mean young adults enter into a marriage determined to make it last a lifetime. Is it possible that the younger generations could make the divorce rate go down in years to come?
Moral of the story: Disney just might be raising our kids right.
Married Women Live the Lush Life
A study about marriage and alcohol consumption found married women to be the main alcohol consumers. Married men’s alcohol consumption fell once they were married, while married women’s alcohol consumption peaks. Married women were shown to drink more than unmarried women, divorce women, and widowed women. Researchers think married women’s rise in drinking is partially due to the husbands’ drinking pattern. Before marriage, men tend to go drinking with buddies; it’s possible that after marriage men tend to substitute their wives for their drinking buddies.
Moral of the story: It’s not the teens you need to lock up the liquor cabinet around, it’s your married daughters.
Everyone Loves a Mama-in-Law’s Boy
A 26-year-long study found the key to a lasting marriage: The husband’s relationship with the in-laws. When the husband reported having a good relationship with his in-laws, the marriage’s risk of divorce dropped 20%. However, when the wife reported having a good relationship with her in-laws, the marriage’s risk of divorce jumped up 20%. Researchers speculate the differences in the way men and women view relationships may be at the root of the matter.
Moral of the story: Women, hold your in-laws close; men, hold your in-laws closer.