marriage

In the Yearbook Study, the genuineness of women students’ smiles in their college yearbook photos predicted, 30 years later, whether they were married and scored highly on life satisfaction, good relationships, and managing stress. One of the limitations of this research is, obviously, that its participants are all female. Yesterday I accidentally came across a little snippet of new research that suggests that male and female smiles don’t mean the same thing.

In about two months, my husband I will celebrate our Pearl Anniversary (30 years). While we haven’t yet shown the stamina of my grandparents’ generation, I think we can claim some stick-to-it-iveness. Fortunately for us, it has gotten easier and more rewarding with practice. Why is that? That’s what I’d like to explore here, based on work by John Gottman and other psychologists who have studied relationship excellence.

My dear friend, even though I do not write for Cosmo magazine, my advice truly could reignite passion and connection in your relationship. In my five years of post-divorce dating,…

For years, I have seen men roll their eyes and exclaim, “Women! I’ll never understand them!” I have always been at a loss for how to respond to this outburst,…

In the positive psychology world, Dr. John Gottman is well-known for his 5:1 ratio of positive to negative language and how it can predict successful relationships.  But actually, much more…