For men, playing games or doing outdoor activities together are the best ways to build intimacy. But for women, they find it more fun to chat intimately with their partner.
Howard Markman and Scott Stanley, director of the Center for Marriage and Family Studies at the University of Denver, began a long-term survey of 306 couples in the Denver area since 1996 to try to find out the relationship between couples having fun together and marital happiness. They finally selected 197 questionnaires for couples who were in their second year of marriage for analysis.
“The relationship between play and marital happiness is significant and close, and the more time a couple spends playing together, the happier their marriage is,” Markman said.
As a psychologist, Markman says, having fun together is more important for men. The survey found that men prefer to refer to their “other half” as their “best friend”. Individual activities such as watching TV and surfing the Internet are not conducive to a happy marriage.
“For men, playing games together or doing outdoor activities is the best way to build intimacy. But for women, they think it’s more fun to chat intimately with their partner.” Les Pao, professor of psychology at Seattle Peace University Lotter said.
Therefore, men are often disappointed because women do not want to play games with him or play golf or watch football games with him, and these fun often stimulate more passion and interest in men.
There are also differences in the definition of “dating” between men and women.
“For women, dating needs to be planned in advance, and it requires men to invest more energy in designing and planning, and the content should be rich and full of expectations.” Markman said, “From the perspective of men, having a cup of coffee together can be regarded as a date.