Going my way? New study says it makes for happier couples

A new study says
couples who commute in the same direction are happier than
those who go the opposite way. It sounds dubious, but it
sparked an interesting conversation at the Radke dinner
table.

“Honestly, my thought was ‘it sounds like a dumb
study,'” Bill says after his wife asked about the story.

But Bill’s wife insisted when they both commuted in the
same direction it made a noticeable difference.

“She says, ‘Remember when we both drove to the same
place or the same area? We would talk about the rain
squall or the hail we got caught up in or ‘oh yeah I was
in that traffic it was crappy where you were it spilled
over to where I was,'” Bill recounts. “You eat at the same
restaurants even if it’s not the same day together you
know the same places. We had stuff to talk about.”

Not that their marriage crumbled when their commute
changed, but Bill admits it added a little something more.

The study published in the Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology says researchers tested their theory in
both the United States and Hong Kong and found similar
results.

“[The surveys] showed that partners’ satisfaction
with their relationship was greater when they traveled to
work in the same direction than when they traveled in
different directions. This was true regardless of whether
the partners left for work at the same or different
times.”

But co-host Tom Tangney isn’t buying it. After several
decades of marital bliss, he insists it’s better for
couples to go their own way.

“We both come home stimulated by our workplaces and we
can then share the two different experiences we had, not
the same shared one,” Tangney counters.