The Relatable Blog

Couples Parents Friendship Dating and Engaged

Does Marriage Get Better Over Time?

Does marriage, like a good bottle of wine, really get better over time? That’s the question Dr. Paul Amato and his co-author, Spencer James, set out to answer. Amato serves as the Arnold and Bette Hoffman Emeritus Professor of Family Sociology…

Dating & Engaged

10 Potentially Irreconcilable Differences

Are there any irreconcilable differences? The University of Washington has more than 35 years of marital research by Dr. John Gottman that determines with greater than a 90 percent accuracy rate what's going to happen to a relationship over…

Dating & Engaged

Do I Really Want To Marry This Person?

Dating. Is. Hard. There’s no way around it. On the bright side, you meet a variety of people. You learn more about yourself and have some good (and often laughable), awkward stories. So, when you find yourself thinking about forever with…

Dating & Engaged, Married Couples

4 Tips for Becoming a Team in Marriage

After you marry, who should you approach first as your confidant, to ask for an opinion or to work through an issue? Your spouse or your parents? Many couples wrestle with this in the early stages of marriage.One woman shared that she resented her husband of two years going to his mother about everything.

Dating & Engaged, Married Couples

Who Handles the Money?

Who handles the money in your home? What kind of debt load do you carry? How often do you argue about spending money?The 2009 State of Our Unions: Marriage in America research conducted by the National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values, focused on money and marriage, including the influence that debt, assets, spending patterns and materialism have on marriage.The findings indicate a strong correlation between consumer debt and marital satisfaction.The study found that money ...

Dating & Engaged, Married Couples

What Women Need to Know About Men

Shaunti Feldhahn is a Harvard-educated analyst who wants to enable men and women to have healthy, long-lasting marriages."I travel a lot," says Feldhahn. "People frequently ask me what I do, and my usual response is: 'I help women understand men.' The men usually laugh and say, 'You know, we really aren't that complicated.'"Feldhahn's research found that in most cases, relationship problems happen when a husband and wife care deeply for each other and ...

Dating & Engaged, Married Couples

Who Is More Likely to Cheat?

This past year, in the midst of the #metoo campaign, a number of married men were among those accused of sexual misconduct. News of the inappropriate behavior probably created some extremely awkward moments within these marriages and perhaps made others wonder if their spouse is likely to cheat.Dr. Wendy Wang, research director at the Institute for Family Studies, recently released a brief on the subject called Who Cheats More?

Dating & Engaged

10 Red Flags in a Dating Relationship

If your goal is to have a healthy relationship, you'll want to keep an eye out for these unhealthy behaviors. Paying attention to them can save you from heartache down the road.The person you are dating wants to dominate your time and/or keep you from friends and family.He/she asks you to sacrifice your values for the sake of the relationship.Your significant other disrespects and discourages you instead of encouraging and honoring you. Your date wants to control you – where you g...

Dating & Engaged

3 Myths About Waiting to Marry

Not too long ago people tended to marry in their early 20s, but now the average marrying age is 29 for males and 27 for females. Why are people waiting so long to marry? And is it helping or hurting their chances of success in marriage?“It is interesting because today’s young singles (emerging adults) want to have a great marriage yet they keep putting it off,” says Dr.