John Gottman, professor Emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington, conducted research that showed the ratio of five positive interactions for every one negative interaction between husbands and wives is a significant indicator in the long-term success of a marriage. When the ratio approaches one-to-one, marriages "cascade to divorce."
Starting in 1992, Gottman and his team recruited 700 couples who had just received their marriage licenses. The researchers videotaped each couple in a 15-minute conversation and counted the number of positive and negative interactions. Based on the five-to-one ratio, they predicted whether each couple would stay together or divorce.
Ten years later Gottman and his team followed up and found a 94 percent accuracy based on scoring the couples' interactions for 15 minutes!
Remarkable. Scary. And worth thinking about ....
