Study: Women Are Happier in Relationships When Their Partner Knows They're Miserable
A recent study shows that women are happier in relationships when men know they're miserable. Does that even make sense? Men on the other hand, are simply just happy when their partner is happy.
The research appeared in the Journal of Family Psychology, and it shows that men and woman have the ability to tell when the other is happy or upset and that is closely linked to relationship satisfaction. The study analyzed 156 heterosexual couples from a diverse range of backgrounds and involved each participant to describe a frustrating, disappointing or upsetting incident they encounted with their partner.
The study would have them talk the issue out with their partner and later rate emotions on a positive to negative scale and fill in a questionaire about their relationship satisfaction. The data was used to ascertain what bearing empathy and mood had on the success of relationships.
The result? Woman are far happier in relationships when men can work out when they were unhappy. Woman are actually happier in relationships at points in time when their partner know they are currently miserable.
As for men, complexity isn't a friend. Men are simply just happier in their relationships when their partner is happier. Shiri Cohen, one of the researchers, explained to Science Daily:
"It could be that for women, seeing that their male partner is upset reflects some degree of the man's investment and emotional engagement in the relationship, even during difficult times. This is consistent with what is known about the dissatisfaction women often experience when their male partner becomes emotionally withdrawn and disengaged in response to conflict."
[Journal of Family Psychology via Science Daily; Image: Alyssa L. Miller]
