It turns out even the happiest couples can end up getting a divorce. And while divorced Missouri couples can probably attest to the fact that a marriage can end for a number of reasons — like conflicts with parenting, infidelity and arguments over financial choices — a recent study found that a lack of communication and support from a spouse can often times lead to a divorce too.
According to the study, when looking at couples who once reported being satisfied in their marriage, those who ended up eventually getting a divorce also reported greater instances of poor communication skills and a lack of support for their significant other. Additionally, these same divorcees reported showing and expressing more negative emotions and verbal aggression during their marriage.
An example of these traits would be when wives or husbands would use invalidation or blame when communicating with their significant others. In some cases, spouses would also be pessimistic and encourage their partners to keep their feelings and emotions bottled up.
The study also points to the fact that there was a time for many of these couples that these issues also coincided with a person being happy in their marriage.
Of course, this isn’t to say that all of the couples involved in the study that ended up divorced cited poor communication skills, negative emotions and a lack of support as reasons for the divorce, it was just noted that these factors played a role in many of the couple’s relationships who later on divorced.
That being said, each marriage and subsequent divorce is a unique situation and experience, especially for the couple going through it. And while researchers can provide insight into divorce risks and trends, a family law attorney can help tailor a divorce to meet a person’s specific situation.
Source: The Atlantic, “What Kinds of Happy Couples Eventually Get Divorced?” Alice G. Walton, April 16, 2012
