Revealed: The 30 most common reasons married couples argue, from lack of affection to how much sex they’re having – so, how many can YOU relate to?
- Psychologists at Oakland University, Michigan, researched newlywed couples
- Local heterosexual couples revealed the causes of arguments in their marriage
- Most had disagreements with their partner due to lack of affection and attention
Every couple experiences conflict, but now researchers have identified the most common topics people argue about in the hope of using the findings to improve marital harmony.
Led by psychologist Guilherme Lopes, a study at Oakland University, Michigan, found that couples are likely to have disagreements that can be grouped into six categories: affection, sex, money, control, jealousy and housework
Lopes’ team used their findings to create the Reasons for Disagreement in Romantic Relationships Scale, which he hopes can be used by therapists to get to the bottom of what’s causing arguments in relationships.
‘Understanding the main reasons for disagreement in relationships, and what men and women perceive as disagreement, can help couples mitigate arguments by anticipating conflict,’ he told New Scientist.
Guilherme’s team asked university students to select topics that married couples are likely to argue about, ranging from serious subjects such as abortion to which TV programmes to watch.
They then agreed on 83 possibilities to put forward for their research, which saw them survey 107 heterosexual couples in the local area who had married in the past year.
The newlyweds scored each topic based on how much they believe they’ve argued about it with their spouse.
The team then highlighted the most popular answers and grouped them by theme.
A new study reveals newlywed couples are most likely to argue over inadequate displays of affection and attention (file image)
Among the final list was disagreements over who should pay, how often to see friends and the frequency of sex.
The Psychologists have presented their findings as a Reasons for Disagreement in Romantic Relationships Scale, which they hope can be used to explain conflict in relationships.
The psychologists took the most common 30 arguments and grouped them into the six main themes.
Respondents also shared how happy they were in their marriage and if they were likely to have an affair.
Examining gender, researchers discovered that wives were often made more unhappy than their husbands by arguments over who is in control.