Rituals Can Throw Light on Couple’s Relationship
Let’s look at how romantic partners communicate during holidays and celebrations may serve as a diagnostic tool showing where the relationship is heading.
A new study from the University of Illinois shows the importance of rituals in human relationships.
By “rituals,” researchers mean spending time together on different occasions, including those centered around holidays like Christmas and New Year, and celebrating some personal dates that are valuable for a couple or a family, for example, a Friday movie night.
The research team interviewed 24 heterosexual couples from the U.S. Southwest region, dating for an average of 2.5 years. The median age of participants was 23 years old.
Authors discovered that rituals have the power to bond partners and might offer a sneak peek at their future family life together if they decide to get married. How you spend time celebrating might showcase the weak and strong areas of your relationship, findings show.
“Rituals seem to play a role in pausing and slowing down individuals, helping them take a better look at their relationship. They help them see, ‘this is who we are as a couple; this is who we are as a family,’” explain researchers.
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