Take It Slow If You Want Your Relationship to Last

This article from Psychology Today explores the impact that moving too fast in a relationship may have on the long term quality of the relationship and/or marriage.

1. In accordance to the findings presented in the article, rapid progression in relationships (i.e. sex before 6 months & cohabitation before engagment or marriage) lead to poorer marriage quality and outcomes. What do you think are the contributing factors or reasons why ‘moving too fast’ in a relationship could lead to a poorer quality relationships and high incidence of divorce?

2. A cross-sectional research design was used in this study, which means that observation of the population was done at one specific point in time. Being that people constantly change as well as relationships, do you think that the research design used was valid in depicting the overall quality of a relationship or marriage overtime? If not, what research design do you think could be appropriate in conceptualizing this phenomenon?

3. This study specifically focused on heterosexual couples. With the shift in policy permitting same sex marriages and also, the rise in social acceptance, do you think the inclusion of same sex couples would provide greater insight into studies of relationship tempo and satisfaction?