The degree to which a married couple argues is not likely to change much over the years, researchers found. Ohio State researchers culled data tracking 1,000 couples over a 20-year period and sorted these couples into high, middle and low conflict marriages. The results? “There was a very slight decrease in the amount of conflict reported in the final years of the study, which was slightly larger for the high-conflict couples. Still, the differences over time were small,” said lead author Claire Kamp Dush. The study found 16% of couples who reported little conflict – or even the 60% who have only moderate levels of conflict – argued the same 20 years later. In addition, the 22% of couples who say they fight and argue with each other a lot continued to argue the same amount 20 years later.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Is Your Marriage Swell Or Hell? It Doesn’t Really Matter
The degree to which a married couple argues is not likely to change much over the years, researchers found. Ohio State researchers culled data tracking 1,000 couples over a 20-year period and sorted these couples into high, middle and low conflict marriages. The results? “There was a very slight decrease in the amount of conflict reported in the final years of the study, which was slightly larger for the high-conflict couples. Still, the differences over time were small,” said lead author Claire Kamp Dush. The study found 16% of couples who reported little conflict – or even the 60% who have only moderate levels of conflict – argued the same 20 years later. In addition, the 22% of couples who say they fight and argue with each other a lot continued to argue the same amount 20 years later.
