Research Says Couples Who Can Laugh At Each Other Are Stronger
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If you're in the kind of relationship where you and your partner are constantly aiming light-hearted digs at one another and laughing at each other's expense, here's some good news for you.
Research suggests that couple's who take the p*** out of each other are more likely to stay together in the long run.
Of course, that might seem obvious. Couples who laugh together, stay together. However, it turns out that enjoying a laugh at your significant other is actually good for the pair of you, despite what they might say at the time.
This news comes from Jeffrey Hall, who is a researcher at the University of Kansas. Over 30 years he's been having a look at around 15,000 people and conducted 39 studies on a variety of relationship based stuff.
In that time, he's arrived at the conclusion that those couples who have a sense of humour and are able to laugh at one another are the strongest.
He said: "What is strongly related to relationship satisfaction is the humour that couples create together.
"Playfulness between romantic partners is a crucial component in bonding and establishing relational security. Particularly shared laughter, is an important indicator of romantic attraction between potential mates."
There you are. If you want to impress a potential mate, it's always better if you're mates first.
He continued: "People say they want a sense of humour in a mate, but that's a broad concept. That people think you are funny or you can make a joke out of anything is not strongly related to relationship satisfaction.
"What is strongly related to relationship satisfaction is the humour that couples create together."
So, in short, if you have a laugh together and - crucially - are able to laugh at each other's foibles without it being serious, you're in a good place.
However, it's still important to know where the line is.
Even if you think it's 'just a joke', if the other person doesn't think so, you're just being a d**k.
Hall added: "Having an aggressive sense of humour is a bad sign for the relationship in general, but it is worse if the style of humour is used in the relationship. If you think your partner tells mean-spirited jokes, then it's likely you've seen that firsthand in your relationship."
In summary, it's great to have a little laugh with and about your partner, but make sure you don't take it too far.
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Topics: Interesting, Weird
