While millions of couples spend hours trying to learn how to improve their marriages through books or therapy, one recent study found that sustaining a happy marriage may only take 21 minutes, a pencil and a piece of paper.

A Northwestern University study set to be published in “Psychological Science” later this year surveyed 120 married couples for two years about their relationship satisfaction, and asked them to describe their most significant recent arguments. During the second year, half of the couples were also asked to complete three seven-minute writing tasks — one task every four months — in which they wrote about the arguments they’d had in the preceding months from the perspective of a theoretical neutral third party who wanted the best for all involved. These couples were found to have greater relationship satisfaction than the couples who did not participate in the writing task.

Lead author Eli Finkel, a Northwestern psychology professor, talked with HuffPost Weddings about why this 21-minute writing task was so influential in sustaining marriage quality.

Continue reading →