Several factors can contribute, in the long run, to the happiness or dissolution of a marriage, including a big red flag: an individual’s behaviors and attitudes about uncommitted sexual relations even before marriage.
Another study has found that. It was also found that although effective communication is related to greater satisfaction with the couple’s relationship, knowledge of the other person (which includes everything from the flavor of ice cream they prefer to their hopes and dreams in life) and communication skills. life (being able to keep a job, money management, etc.) too.
French and her colleagues collected and analyzed data from 204 newly married heterosexual couples. They collected information about their behaviors and attitudes before marriage, as well as numerous factors related to their new marriages, including their marital satisfaction.
Over the course of several years, they followed up with couples to collect information about their marital satisfaction and cataloged data about which couples separated or filed for divorce.
“In general, we are interested in factors that predict the development of marriage over time and what contributes to marital success,” French said.
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In this study, the researchers focused on the degree to which people expressed “unrestricted sociosexual” behaviors, desires, and attitudes before marriage, which indicated that they were more likely to engage in uncommitted sexual relationships, such as one-night stands, and they generally believed that sex without love is fine.
Of the couples involved in the study, people who were relatively unrestricted were less satisfied at the beginning of their marriages; Furthermore, people whose partners were relatively unconstrained experienced a more rapid decline in satisfaction during the first years of marriage, which ultimately predicted dissolution.
“What surprised us most about these results was the fact that the sociosexuality of both partners plays an important role in long-term marital outcomes,” said Juliana French, a doctoral student at Florida State University and first author of the study. “But what we found is that when, before marriage, one or both partners have widespread beliefs that sex without commitment is okay, that can contribute to the failure of the marriage.”
The study does not evaluate whether unrestricted sociosexuality is a negative or positive trait. In fact, there were some contexts where they found that it didn’t affect marriage.
“We found evidence to suggest that couples who have consistent and satisfying sexual relationships or couples who maintain low levels of stress are protected from these negative outcomes,” French said.
Reference:
French, JE, Altgelt, EE, & Meltzer, AL (2019). The Implications of Sociosexuality for Marital Satisfaction and Dissolution. Psychological science, 0956797619868997. https://doi.org/
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