It’s official: Science has declared that sex is a great stress-reliever—at least if you’re a neurotic married couple.
In a study recently published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers from the University of Tennessee found that neurotic married couples (that is, neurotic people who get married to each other) are far less anxious about the state of their relationship if they have sex a lot. We’re stunned.
The researchers reached their conclusion after comparing self-reported data from 72 newly married couples. For the most part, frequency of sex did not directly correlate to marital satisfaction—except for the nervous people, who are said to have more difficulty with relationships in general. When they had more sex, the marital stress apparently just melted away. This is good, we think,because apparently neurotic tendencies can be linked to breaking up, both literally and figuratively.
“High levels of neuroticism are more strongly associated with bad marital outcomes than any other personality factor,” the study authors said. “Frequent sex is one way that some neurotic people are able to maintain satisfying relationships.”
But, it sounds like a great stress reliever either way, no matter one’s nerves or marital status. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to tell my husband I’m having a panic attack.
In a study recently published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers from the University of Tennessee found that neurotic married couples (that is, neurotic people who get married to each other) are far less anxious about the state of their relationship if they have sex a lot. We’re stunned.
The researchers reached their conclusion after comparing self-reported data from 72 newly married couples. For the most part, frequency of sex did not directly correlate to marital satisfaction—except for the nervous people, who are said to have more difficulty with relationships in general. When they had more sex, the marital stress apparently just melted away. This is good, we think,because apparently neurotic tendencies can be linked to breaking up, both literally and figuratively.
“High levels of neuroticism are more strongly associated with bad marital outcomes than any other personality factor,” the study authors said. “Frequent sex is one way that some neurotic people are able to maintain satisfying relationships.”
But, it sounds like a great stress reliever either way, no matter one’s nerves or marital status. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to tell my husband I’m having a panic attack.
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