Benjamin Karney and Thomas Bradbury are a dynamic duo. These UCLA professors study what makes successful marriages last by following 172 married couples over the first 11 years of marriage. For example, they recently found that just professing (and believing) you are committed to your relationship doesn’t do much to help your relationship. Your actual behavior matters much more; can you get past your immediate personal interests to do the right thing for your relationship? They have been interviewed recently about these findings, and I thought this would be an especially fun interview to share. The professors even role-play a successful conflict discussion. Enjoy!
89.3 KPCC: Parenting on the Edge: New marriage study looks at what keeps people together
The interview itself was a pretty general overview, so here is the reference to the actual article:
Stability and change in the first 10 years of marriage: Does commitment confer benefits beyond the effects of satisfaction? Schoebi, Dominik;Karney, Benjamin R.;Bradbury, Thomas N. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Nov 21 , 2011, No Pagination Specified. doi: 10.1037/a002629
I wanted to share the link right away, but I’ll summarize some of the key points of the article next week!
3 comments
Alexandra
February 19, 2012 at 3:39 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Thanks so much for posting! Since I’m recently engaged, I definitely found this interesting!! Would love to hear more about your research – do you study marriage?
Josie
February 23, 2012 at 3:23 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m interested in a lot of related topics, but I don’t study marriage specifically (or at least not yet!). I just thought it was a fun interview to share.
Generally I’m focusing on how older adults establish new social relationships, and that has led me to look at dating and repartnering (including remarriage) in later life. I’m also interested in the health effects of social support, and there’s a lot of amazing research with married partners.
jessica
February 24, 2012 at 9:01 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
thanks for posting! Great reminders and advice for any relationship (boyfriend, girlfriend, or work related)! The roll playing was pretty great- when they did it for a good example and when the host and producer did it for a bad example. :)