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Hang in There. As Couples Age, Humor Replaces Bickering:
Honeymoon long over? Hang in there. A new University of California, Berkeley, study shows those prickly disagreements that can mark the early and middle years of marriage mellow with age as conflicts give way to humor and acceptance.
Researchers analyzed videotaped conversations between 87 middle-aged and older husbands and wives who had been married for 15 to 35 years, and tracked their emotional interactions over the course of 13 years. They found that as couples aged, they showed more humor and tenderness towards another.
Overall, the findings, just published in the journal Emotion, showed an increase in such positive behaviors as humor and affection and a decrease in negative behaviors such as defensiveness and criticism. The results challenge long-held theories that emotions flatten or deteriorate in old age and point instead to an emotionally positive trajectory for long-term married couples.
Journal Reference:
Alice Verstaen, Claudia M. Haase, Sandy J. Lwi, Robert W. Levenson. Age-related changes in emotional behavior: Evidence from a 13-year longitudinal study of long-term married couples.. Emotion, 2018; DOI: 10.1037/emo0000551
A sense of humor is key.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday December 04 2018, @08:37PM (4 children)
Maybe a cynical way to put it, but it's true.
You learn to be less selfish. You're not going to get everything you want in life, so pick what's important.
It's more than simply accepting your fate.
As you become more mutually dependent on each other, a deep trust develops. There is nobody else I would so implicitly trust with all my earthly goods, medical decisions, end of life decisions, etc.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @09:32PM (1 child)
Literally.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @11:06PM
Wanker.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by suburbanitemediocrity on Tuesday December 04 2018, @11:02PM (1 child)
It wasn't meant to be cynical. Part of maturation.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 05 2018, @03:38PM
In any case, as I said: it is true. So true.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.