Sacrifices in a romantic relationship is generally a very positive thing, doing so every day when you are feeling stressed may not be beneficial, it has been found in a new study.
The study was done by Mr. Casey Totenhagen, a research scientist in the USA, John and Doris Norton from School of Family and Consumer Sciences.
Participants in this study included 164 couples, married and unmarried both, whose relationships ranged in length from few months to many years.
Each of the 328 individuals were asked to fill a daily online surveys, over the course of 7 days, indicating the daily sacrifices they have made for their partner in various categories, such as child care, household tasks and amount of time spent with friends and others.
They also were asked to report about the hassles they experienced that day and how much did those hassles affected them. The participants then ranked, on a scale of one to seven, how committed they felt to their partners, how close they felt to their partners and how satisfied they felt with their relationship that day.
Researchers found that individuals who made sacrifice for their significant others generally reported feeling more committed to their partners when they performed those nice behaviors. But when they made sacrifices on days when they had experienced a lot of hassles, they did not feel more committed.
On days when people were really stressed and hassled, those sacrifices weren't really beneficial anymore, because it was just one more thing on the plate at that point.
It's worth noting that Totenhagen said that individuals on the receiving end of a partner's sacrifice did not report feeling more committed to their partners, mainly because they were unaware that their partner had done anything special for them; that lack of awareness is a phenomenon explored in other research and is something Totenhagen hopes to study more in depth in future.
When it came to feelings of relationship satisfaction and closeness, making sacrifices for one's partner seemed to have little bearing one way or another.
However, the daily hassles reported by an individual did affect closeness and satisfaction for both partners, regardless of which one experienced those hassles.
The study was done by Mr. Casey Totenhagen, a research scientist in the USA, John and Doris Norton from School of Family and Consumer Sciences.
Participants in this study included 164 couples, married and unmarried both, whose relationships ranged in length from few months to many years.
Each of the 328 individuals were asked to fill a daily online surveys, over the course of 7 days, indicating the daily sacrifices they have made for their partner in various categories, such as child care, household tasks and amount of time spent with friends and others.
They also were asked to report about the hassles they experienced that day and how much did those hassles affected them. The participants then ranked, on a scale of one to seven, how committed they felt to their partners, how close they felt to their partners and how satisfied they felt with their relationship that day.
Researchers found that individuals who made sacrifice for their significant others generally reported feeling more committed to their partners when they performed those nice behaviors. But when they made sacrifices on days when they had experienced a lot of hassles, they did not feel more committed.
On days when people were really stressed and hassled, those sacrifices weren't really beneficial anymore, because it was just one more thing on the plate at that point.
It's worth noting that Totenhagen said that individuals on the receiving end of a partner's sacrifice did not report feeling more committed to their partners, mainly because they were unaware that their partner had done anything special for them; that lack of awareness is a phenomenon explored in other research and is something Totenhagen hopes to study more in depth in future.
When it came to feelings of relationship satisfaction and closeness, making sacrifices for one's partner seemed to have little bearing one way or another.
However, the daily hassles reported by an individual did affect closeness and satisfaction for both partners, regardless of which one experienced those hassles.