--- title: How Gratitude Affects Marriage description: Being thankful can help relieve stress and protect relationships canonical: https://time.com/4236231/gratitude-marriage/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-04T13:00:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:49:35.325Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Importance of Gratitude in Marriage og:description: Being thankful can help relieve stress and protect relationships og:url: https://time.com/4236231/gratitude-marriage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2d090570edec03/69887f0abc6cfc5e7a3dbe16/couple-holding-hands-outdoors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5689 og:image:height: 3200 og:image:alt: couple-holding-hands-outdoors og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Importance of Gratitude in Marriage twitter:description: Being thankful can help relieve stress and protect relationships twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2d090570edec03/69887f0abc6cfc5e7a3dbe16/couple-holding-hands-outdoors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Importance of Gratitude in Marriage > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=e1e097aa-e542-4dd9-b101-b439eb0b7adb&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Wide, Wacky World Of Weddings [Watch (HLS stream): The Wide, Wacky World Of Weddings](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WgK2gN3E.m3u8) (2:09)  _Published 2015-06-20. A look at some of the flashiest, most expensive and weirdest weddings out there._ by [TheBrainFlux](https://time.com/author/the-brain-flux/) ## TheBrainFlux Mar 4, 2016 1:00 PM UTC A new study says being married increases your chances for a better recovery after heart surgery. by [TheBrainFlux](https://time.com/author/the-brain-flux/) ## TheBrainFlux Mar 4, 2016 1:00 PM UTC Gratitude continues to shine as a behavior that contributes to our happiness and well-being. Yet, it seems we often forget to be thankful on a regular basis. Despite it being an amazingly simple act to perform. Gratitude has been found to be a [key predictor](http://thebrainflux.com/2-traits-that-predict-happiness/) in happiness. Not to mention the many other health benefits that science has found recently. Research from the University of Georgia now shows how gratitude affects marriage. **_TheBrainFlux:_**[_111 Discoveries From Brain and Psychology Research in 2015_](http://thebrainflux.com/111-discoveries-from-brain-and-psychology-research-in-2015/) **Wedding Bliss?** Marriage can be wonderful. That doesn’t mean it’s always rainbows and butterflies, though. Like any relationship it takes work. Fights are going to happen. It’s impossible to see eye to eye on everything. How you handle yourself and your behavior can go a long way in influencing marital outcomes. These are the types of things that the research touches on. The [study](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pere.12094/abstract) – published in the journal _Personal Relationships_ – finds that gratitude not only plays a role in marriage happiness, but it can also help alleviate symptoms of negative situations. Ted Futris was a co-author on the study. He’s also an associate professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. He had this to say about the research: --- > “” --- Their results show that spousal expression of gratitude was the most significant and consistent predictor of marital quality. **When the Going Gets Tough** An interesting and useful part of the research was finding how it protects couples against divorce. Not only that, but it also protects a woman’s marital commitment from the effects of poor communication during conflict. Ted elaborates on this interaction: --- > “” --- The “demand/withdrawal” that Ted is talking about is a common behavior in couple conflict. It occurs when one partner demands, nags, or criticizes. The other person then responds by either withdrawing or avoiding confrontation. This is a problem and can lead to a breakdown in communication and a lower quality of marriage. **_TheBrainFlux:_**[_39 Brain Benefits of Exercise_](http://thebrainflux.com/brain-benefits-of-exercise/) **Ray of Hope** Conflict is not only tough, but it can be an emotional mess. Gratitude can not only break the nasty cycle that can occur with stressful situations, but can have a protective effect as well. Gratitude is a wonderful and simple strategy for marriage. Especially if you’re not great at communicating in a conflict. So how can you accomplish this? In the study, here’s how they measured gratitude. It was the degree of how much a person felt appreciated by their spouse, valued by their spouse, and acknowledged when they did something nice for their spouse. So to practice gratitude, find ways to do those 3 things. Show your partner that you appreciate them. Show them that you value them. And when they do something nice for you, simply tell them that you noticed and are aware of their kind act. **_TheBrainFlux:_**[_How Men and Women React to Marital Problems_](http://thebrainflux.com/how-men-and-women-react-to-marital-problems/) **Understanding Conflict** While the study itself focused on fights concerning financial matters, the lessons learned can apply to other areas as well. If you want to know more about reaching The Importance of Gratitude in Marriage , you should learn about [underlying concerns](http://thebrainflux.com/2-reasons-why-couples-really-fight/) and what a partner [really wants](http://thebrainflux.com/6-ways-to-stop-fighting-as-a-couple/) in a conflict. As a final bit of wisdom, Ted has a few last words: --- > “” --- _This_ [_article_](http://thebrainflux.com/how-gratitude-affects-marriage/) _originally appeared on_ [_TheBrainFlux_](http://thebrainflux.com) ## Transcript Marriage, it has a long and storied tradition all over the world. Some ceremonies are small, others are flashy, expensive, even televised events. Some are between dogs. Who are we to argue with love, right? Some weddings are presidential, the White House has hosted more than a dozen weddings. But only one actively serving U. S. president ever tied the knot there, Grover Cleveland. He married Frances Folsom Cleveland in the blue room in 1886. With musical accompaniment by none other than John Philip Sousa. But it's hard to get more glamorous than George Clooney's wedding to Amal Alamuddin. An actor and lawyer getting married in Venice with names such as Matt Damon and Bill Murray on the guest list. Oh and the paparazzi. It's a hive of activity. People stopping outside to take photos. Paparazzi camped outside. You can also see them lurking around the city. [ MUSIC ] These canals on speedboat. And that's nothing compared to what was arguably the most watched wedding of all time, Prince Charles wed Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 in front of a congregation of 3, 500 and a global television audience estimated at 750 million. It was also one of the most expensive weddings ever, ringing in at nearly 70 million dollars in today's prices. Prince William and Kate Middleton's ceremony was only half that by comparison. On the other end of that particular spectrum, Was activist Gypsy Taub's nude wedding to fellow nudist James Smith at San Francisco's City Hall in 2013. She saved a lot of money on a wedding dress, but the police fined and arrested the couple for the unusual ceremony. So perhaps attorney's fees made it a wash. Maybe even more unusual is the concept of mass weddings. At Unification Church ceremonies, thousands of couples exchange rings all at once. 2500 couples are tying the knot at exactly the same time. A mass wedding of the unification church. And yes, there are dog weddings. Their owners are professional wedding photographers, and they say that like most crazy ideas, don't I know it, this one was born over a bottle of wine. Official? 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