The following is a round-up of news items compiled by the Hitched editors during the week of July 31, 2014.
Marital Satisfaction Love Report
Satisfaction is a new show about a couple’s modern marriage at its midpoint, which recently began airing over at USA Network, and USA Network commissioned a survey to take a closer look at modern romance. Now, this isn’t the most rigorous survey, but interesting nonetheless. It was conducted online with 1,000 participants across the country between the ages of 18-49. With that in mind, here are a few highlights from the survey.
* 24% of parents admitted to cheating; 15% of non-parents admitted to cheating
* 55% of parents feel marriage is more difficult than they thought it would be compared to 34% of non-parents
* 48% believe marriage vows need to be renewed (10 years was voted the ideal time)
* If cheating did take place, 81% believed it is better it happen with a stranger than a friend (19%)
* 76% of those married or in a relationship say they fantasize about being with another person; 48% don’t feel any guilt about these fantasies
* 26% had discussed bringing a third person into the relationship
* 54% believe cheating can be justified in some cases, with the highest-rated reason being the other person cheated first (23.9%), whereas “I hadn’t had sex in a year” got 20.7%
Your Man Wants to Be Heard
New research based on three different studies (two experimental and one observational) was published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and found that men were more likely to be sexually attracted to a woman who was responsive to them and listened to them. They perceived this “responsive” action as more feminine, and linked it with higher sexual arousal, greater partner attractiveness and greater desire for a long-term relationship. Now, this data was collected when looking at new connections, but we’ll take a leap and suggest that if your man found the early attention and responsiveness attractive, it’s a safe bet that he’ll feel good when receiving that same level of attention years later.
Interestingly, women who felt like men were being responsive did not have the same response. Many felt that men were just trying to pull a fast one to get sex, while others saw the act of responsiveness as un-masculine. Don’t worry, some women did find this trait as desirable.
Steve Cooper is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Hitched. You can follow him on Twitter at @hitchedmedia.
