Justin Lavner, associate professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ psychology department, recently spoke with MSN about signs of rock-solid romantic relationships.
First, these couples are friends and have friends to buffer the rocky points. They also think like a team and accentuate the positive.
Additionally, they know how to manage stress.
“What’s interesting is people often aren’t aware of how stress is affecting them,” Lavner said. “For a lot of couples, stress can be very impairing for the relationship.”
According to Lavner, they also know how to manage conflict.
“Therapists will have couples talk about specifics, but more as a way of getting at some of those deeper issues,” he said. “Unless you deal with the underlying themes of conflict, you’re just playing Whack-a-Mole.”
