Married couples and long-term partners often do things to keep their relationship strong.
These actions help build commitment, which is good for their physical and mental health.
A study explored how these relationship-maintenance actions connect with happiness and commitment.
How specialists tested it
The researchers looked at five main areas of relationship maintenance: positivity, openness, assurances, using social networks, and sharing tasks.
While normally these behaviors are studied individually, the study considered how both partners work together to maintain the relationship.
Each person in 192 heterosexual married couples filled out separate surveys, reporting on their own and their partner's relationship maintenance behaviors, happiness, and commitment.
Surprisingly, they found that relationship maintenance behaviors alone didn't directly impact commitment.
However, the level of happiness played a role.
It might be helpful
When both partners were happier in their relationship, they saw each other's efforts more positively, which made their commitment stronger.
The study also revealed that when both partners used similar relationship maintenance behaviors, wives felt less committed.
In most cases, having similar personalities and values in a relationship is good, but when it comes to maintaining the relationship, having different approaches might be more helpful.
This way, couples have a wider range of strategies to deal with challenges and stressors, making their relationship stronger.
The study found that happiness and different approaches to relationship maintenance play a crucial role in strengthening commitment in couples.
