Relationships: Stress Can Influence How You See Your Partner

A lot is said about how difficult it is to maintain a romantic relationship these days, but have you ever wondered what exactly leads to this situation? According to a social study, the stress so present in current times can be one of the decisive factors when finishing a relationship. Check out more about the effects of stress on a relationship.

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How did the study go?

Living together requires a lot of flexibility and a lot of patience for both partners. However, life as a couple has a great silent enemy that is not always noticed: stress. At least that is what this social study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

In this case, 79 newlywed heterosexual couples were carefully observed by some researchers. Furthermore, each of the partners was invited to report whether something very stressful happened during that day. Soon after, they asked if the partner had also been a stressor.

In this way, it was possible to put concerns into perspective and see how everyday stress contributed to some discomfort within the relationship. So it turned out that small acts can generate a lot of discussion when stress is present in the equation. This explains the reason for many fights between couples.

Negative traits are enhanced by stress

According to the article's lead author, Lisa Neff, who is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, stress is highly damaging in relationships. That's because someone under stress is more likely to see what's negative about their partner, but that wouldn't be enough to bother in other contexts.

That is, many of the problems and fights between couples might not happen if one of the partners was not living with stressors. However, it is not always perceived that there is a stress factor present in everyday life, and in these cases the blame is entirely attributed to the partner, unfairly.