YourTango
Everyone is looking for ways to achieve a happy, healthy marriage. As divorce rates continue to skyrocket and temptation lies around every corner, it’s never been more important to understand the little things that can lead to a successful marriage. And we’re not talking about anecdotal concepts here.
Andrea Miller, a relationship expert and CEO of Your Tango, the number one media company dedicated to love and relationships, looked at research conducted over several years to find the little-known, offbeat factors that can lead to successful marriages.
According to Miller, science is used to understand everything in our world, and relationships should be no different. “There are literally countless factors that can impact the success of a marriage, so it only makes sense to look at the data as a whole and find clues to how people achieve healthy relationships and, ultimately, happy marriages.”
Andrea identifies six strange things that lead to successful marriages.
- A Big Wedding Not what you might expect to hear, but the National Marriage Project from The University of Virginia conducted a survey of 418 couples and found a correlation between large weddings and conjugal happiness as well as higher quality of marriage. Note: the size of the wedding was determined by the number of guests, not the extravagance. So expand the guest list, but rein in the bridezilla.
- High Bone Mineral Density A study of 632 adults found a correlation between better bone health and marriage quality. Although we still don’t know what causes this, the study found that men who had never been married, were separated, divorced, or widowed had significantly lower bone mass density then those who were married. So consider ordering milk on your next date!
- An Attractive Wife Not too surprisingly, a study led by psychologist Andrea Meltzer followed 450 newlywed couples over four years. He then asked them whether an attractive spouse leads to satisfaction in marriage. Men said yes, but the ladies said no. Harsh, but true.
- An Unattractive Husband Another study found that ladies are better off marrying an unattractive mate. Researchers believe that, because of the high value men place on physical beauty, it’s more likely they will treat their wives better. Again, harsh, but true…
- Separate Hobbies Just because you share a bed does not mean you should share a life. Fight in the instinct to take up all your spouse’s hobbies, especially in cases where you don’t actually enjoy or appreciate the particular hobby. According to a study published in Journal of Marriage and Family, couples who separate to do hobbies have greater marriage satisfaction.
- Putting Off Babies A recent survey found that younger couples who delayed having children had the happiest relationships. While some might argue that children strengthened their bond, this might not be as surprising considering how much time and effort parenting requires.
This article originally appeared in YourTango.com