More on Terri Orbuch and her research:
(excerpt)
"One of the common misconceptions is that passionate love remains strong over time in all relationships," Orbuch said. "Research evidence does not support this. Passionate love decreases very quickly after the start of a relationship, but that doesn"t mean it cannot be reestablished.
"When you study couples who have been married for long periods of time, you find they have a different kind of love based on caring and support. It"s a more stable type of love based on companionship. What"s most important is affirming that your partner is special so they feel worthwhile. This is important for all types of relationships, whether it be with your mother, daughter, spouse or best friend. People forget about the importance of telling their partner that they"re special because it"s common sense. It"s especially important for men to feel special in marital relationships. When men feel valued in the relationship, the couple is less likely to get divorced."
Really?? After 15 years of still passionate marriage (& 3 years prior to that as a couple) I’d like to know who on earth they surveyed for this tripe.
Vanessa,
They studied 373 couples who applied for marriage licenses in Wayne County in 1986.
If you experience is different, why would you consider your sample of one couple to make the larger sample “tripe”? Do you frequently denigrate that which you do not know about?