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Besides loving and trusting
your spouse, supporting his or her personal goals and dreams may also
be key to maintaining a happy marriage. People feel happiest in relationships
where they feel the other person helps them achieve their own personal
goals.
It's so easy to be blinded
by physical attractiveness. Yet, individuals should evaluate what the
other person is trying to accomplish in his or her own life and determine
whether those goals are compatible with what they are trying to accomplish.
Individuals who perceived themselves
as having high levels of support from their spouses in their personal
pursuits reported greater marital satisfaction than their less-supported
peers.
Further, those who agreed that
they and their spouse were able to successfully work together to achieve
shared goals, such as buying a home or having children, were also likely
to report increased marital satisfaction.
Since the study showed only
associations between marital satisfaction and spousal support, rather
than a definite cause and effect, the authors note that they cannot conclude
that spousal support of personal goals will cause marital satisfaction
or vice versa.
When people are at the beginning
of a potential romantic or close relationship they (should) think very
closely about their own aspirations and whether the person will be supportive.
Journal
of Social and Clinical Psychology June 2002;21:157-164
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