Justin Lavner, associate professor of psychology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, recently spoke with The Charlaton about research on the accuracy of “happy wife, happy life.”
Lavner said women have long been regarded as the “barometers” of relationships.
“The idea [is that women] can pick up on things better, and be better predictors [of the relationship] than men are,” he said.
Lavner was part of a research study that hoped to debunk the claim that a woman’s satisfaction predicts the longevity of heterosexual relationships. The study found both men and women’s satisfaction is predictive of long-term success within a relationship.
“I think the findings are really important, because they speak to this idea that men and women affect how things go – for good and for bad,” he said.
