We all know that men and women behave differently. Part of being husband and wife is getting to know the differences in the way you and your spouse express your needs and concerns, learning what is important to each other, and doing your best to master one another’s communication style. Many of the common stereotypes, however, don’t really hold up when investigated thoroughly. Surely we have our differences, but when it comes down to it, we really just have different ways of expressing the same basic emotions, desires, and needs.
A recent study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin set out to determine some differences in the ways that men and women express affection in a marriage. What they found totally defies the stereotype that men are less affectionate, and sheds some interesting light on the dynamic of couples’ relationships.
Covering more than 150 couples over the course of 13 years of marriage, the study found that men are, in fact, just as openly affectionate as their female counterparts. The husbands simply express their affection differently than their wives.
- A surprising study recently found that men are just as affectionate as women!
As couples were interviewed over years of marriage, the study found that the men who described the most love for their wives were openly affectionate on a regular basis. The expression of this affection included, without surprise, a higher likelihood of initiating sexual activity. These men were also more likely to include their wives in their daily activities, from chores around the house to leisurely pastimes.
Women, on the other hand, express their love by accommodating their spouses in a slightly different way. The wives in the study were more apt to engage in verbal expressions of love, and were largely more in tune with, and tolerant of their husbands’ needs and behaviors. These women were found to be more likely to allow their husbands to initiate sex more often, as well as more likely to accommodate assertive behavior. This means that the women who described themselves as most in love with their husbands were taking a more submissive role in the relationship.
This data comes as something of a surprise in the post-feminist world, but the study does not indicate that these women are completely submissive, only that the women who describe the most love for their husbands are willing to bend a little, and let their husbands assert themselves a little more.
The overall conclusion of the study is one of gender neutrality – a common consensus that the differences we perceive between men and women are nearly as vast as we make them out to be. The husbands and wives who described the most loving relationships were both willing to make compromises, to accommodate the social and emotional needs of one another, and to do so in the ways that worked best for their respective genders.
Men and women really aren’t all that different, it’s just the subtle things that make us perceive ourselves that way. We all want to love and be loved, we just have different ways of showing it!
Are you and your partner different? What do you think? Please comment!
Want to feel more love and affection in your relationship? Check out the StrongMarriageNow System
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Dr. Dana Fillmore and Amy Barnhart, co-Founders, StrongMarriageNow.com
I agree completely with this article. My husband likes to grabe me and play with me as a way of showing affection. He also does include me in most everything he does. I find that I am tolerant of my husband and use words to show him he is appreciated. I made an effort to understand what makes him feel loved,valued and respected and I do it. You have to make your marriage a priority. You get out of it what you put into it. Make eye contact with him when he talks to you and be genuinely interested don't just humor him. If he is talking to you he is including you in his inner most world. Make it good for him to be a man. He is an adult and can survive on his own stop trying to be his mother. This alone will do wonders!!
I can associate on this matter. I have been married for twenty years and your article defines our way of making marriage work. I recently completed an eight week Powerpoint presentation requirement through Liberty University's Seminary on Pre-marital/Marital Counseling. You can imagine how thrilled and surprised I was to have my husband offer to help teach it. I am thrilled at his offer. It is with his attitude of on going support that fuels the love and respect I have for him.