It is the age-old complaint of long-suffering menfolk everywhere – that women take rows too much to heart.
Now research has confirmed the male suspicion is true, as women apparently do get more upset than their partners when couples squabble.
But husbands and boyfriends shouldn’t feel too pleased with themselves; the same study showed that men cause most relationship rows in the first place.
The study found men expressed more ‘powerful undermining emotions’ than women in rows
The study found men expressed more ‘powerful undermining emotions’ than women in rows
According to research, women feel emotions more intensely than men when conflicts arise within a relationship.
However, it is men who are behind most rows between couples because they are more likely to express ‘powerful undermining emotions’ such as wrath or contempt.
The findings came from researchers at the University of Granada in Spain, who analysed the type of interpersonal emotions men and women feel when they face different conflicts within their relationship.
A total of 142 people – 75 women and 67 men – were exposed to five different situations in which a couple might experience an argument.
Researchers analysed the type of interpersonal emotions men and women feel, and the effect emotions have on the recurrence of conflict.
In situations where one partner offends the other or treats them disrespectfully, women felt miserable, while the situation in which one partner was physically aggressive during an argument, women felt more disappointed than men.
In another scenario where one partner distorted an argument to be right, research showed that women felt sadness, while men merely felt embarrassed.
Women were said to feel more intense emotions, both ‘powerful’ and ‘non-powerful’
Women were said to feel more intense emotions during arguments
During an argument with a partner, men were said to have more domineering or powerful emotions such as wrath, anger or contempt, while women would experience more submissive attitudes, like guilt, sadness or fear.
However, the research proved that women feel more intense emotions.
Researchers think that ‘the socio-cultural context and gender-based roles assigned to men and women respectively might have a relevant influence on the generation of expectations concerning their role in relationships and in conflicts within the couple’.
They added: ‘Thus, as society establishes certain rules on the composition of men-women relations, it also establishes some rules on how both are expected to act in certain conflictive situations.’
The research is published in the science journal Psychosocial Intervention.
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