Research on Commitment:
Couples need to cultivate a sense of oneness between each other. When each person is striving to achieve this it creates a longer lasting relationship, instills positive communication, builds more stability, and they can enjoy their time together, because they want to be together. They are committed no matter what and go on frequent date nights which can help to improve on this area.
Husbands and wives, as well as other romantic partners, are more likely to enjoy stable, high-quality relationships when they experience a strong sense of commitment to one another and to their relationship. Specifically, partners who put one another first, who steer clear of other romantic opportunities, and who cultivate a strong sense of “we-ness” or togetherness are markedly happier than are less-committed couples.
Date nights may solidify an expectation of commitment among couples by fostering a sense of togetherness, by allowing partners to signal to one another - as well as friends and family - that they take their relationship seriously, and by furnishing them with opportunities to spend time with one another, to communicate, and to enjoy fun activities together.
“Similarly, we hypothesized that couple time might be especially important for couples with less commitment to one another and who therefore potentially depend more on one-on-one couple time to keep the spark alive in their relationship.
Like religious attendance, the association between couple time and marital quality only varied by commitment to one’s spouse when analyzing wives’ marital satisfaction. For wives, but not for husbands, couple time was associated with relationship quality more among those with low marital commitment than among those with high commitment. In Figure 8, highly committed wives increased their odds of being very happy in their marriage by about 91 percent if they enjoyed couple time at least once a week, compared to less than that. Among wives with low commitment, the same difference in couple time was associated with an over seven-fold increase in their odds of being very happy in their marriage."
It has been shown in the research from commitment that less-committed wives may expect more from their marriages, or be anxious about the current status or future of their marriages, and may therefore be more likely to benefit from couple time with their husband. In any case, wives who are less committed are more likely to benefit from one-on-one couple time than are wives who experience high levels of commitment. Set aside time in a marriage for
In the conclusion of the study it stated, "However, one caveat is in order here. Wives with low levels of commitment, religiosity, or social integration benefit more from shared couple time but are not happier than wives with high levels of commitment, religiosity, or social integration and high levels of couple time. For instance, after controlling for socioeconomic factors, 52 percent of wives who frequently attend religious services and enjoy couple time with their husbands at least once a week are “very happy” in their marriages, whereas 46 percent of wives who attend religious services infrequently or not at all and enjoy couple time with their husbands at least once a week consider themselves very happy. Therefore, the evidence suggests that couple time is particularly valuable for wives who are less integrated into the social, civic, and religious fabric of their communities, but the data also suggest that more integrated wives who have high levels of couple time are the happiest of all.”
The Date Night Opportunity
What does couple time tell us about the potential value of date nights?
W. Bradford Wilcox & Jeffery Dew
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