Study looks at why some marriages last and others don't

BOSTON -- Why do some marriages last while others don't? A new study sheds some light.

Researchers at Stanford University recruited 35 heterosexual couples living in China who had been married for at least a year. They were put through a battery of personality tests and asked to rate their marital satisfaction. 

The study found little correlation between personality traits and marital happiness. But those reporting greater marital satisfaction were more likely to have the same parts of their brains active while watching marriage-related videos.  

It's unclear whether having similar brain activity brings couples together in happier partnerships or whether being in a happy marriage causes brains to become more synchronized.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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