Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Paul Nelson reportingA new study is forecasting some tough times for certain married couples. It says if your spouse bugs you, they're just going to bother you even more in the future. But, some local counselors are calling this study into question.
Complaints about spouses have been going on for, gosh, who knows how long? Do you remember this line from the movie "Rear Window?" Gunnison says, "Wives don't nag anymore. They discuss."
James Stewart replies, "Is that so? Maybe in the high rent district they discuss. In my neighborhood they still nag."
Apparently, not much has changed since that movie was released in 1954. One man says his wife gets on his case from time to time. She does it rarely, and in a nice way, but still it happens.
He said, "The ‘honey-do' list doesn't get done or whatever, so I get reminded of that."
To be fair to the ladies, it doesn't seem like many of us guys are up for any "Husband of the Year" awards. One woman said, "Oh, I think he listens. I'm not sure it always registers."
Well, there's some bad news for anyone who feels their spouse already gets on their nerves. A recent LiveScience article says it's likely going to get worse. Data collected from the Social Relations and Health Over the Life Course study says relationships with spouses grow more negative, and participants in all age ranges rated the relationship with their spouse as more negative than with their kids or friends.
Holladay Family and Child Guidance Clinic Director Wilfred Higashi says, "The reason why women nag is because the husbands are not paying attention to them." He says married couples don't have to get on each other's nerves. If they do, it's just because they're not really listening to each other.
But, Higashi says there is something men and women should know about each other. "Women and men have different interests, so, naturally, they oftentimes have a hard time, especially men have a hard time talking about their feelings because men tend to be more seclusive than women."
Higashi says you shouldn't assume that your differences will doom a marriage. It's how you treat those differences that could doom a marriage.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
