A new study shows that natural disasters can bring couples closer.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin interviewed hundreds of newlywed couples before and after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast in August 2017.
Hannah Williamson, a professor at UT at Austin in human development, stated in a statement that they saw the greatest increases in relationship satisfaction among those couples who were most unhappy prior to the hurricane.
It was true regardless how much the hurricane affected the couple personally in terms of damage to their homes, financial loss and other damages.
Williamson said that the increase was temporary, and that couples were able to return to pre-hurricane levels in satisfaction within a year.
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People move out of a Houston neighborhood that was flooded by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Researchers analyzing relationship satisfaction after Harvey struck were able to re-interview couples to determine how it affected their dynamic.
Harvey struck, and the team had already surveyed hundreds upon hundreds of newlyweds about their relationship satisfaction.
Previous research on the effects of a disaster in a relationship had not provided such objective data. However, Williamson was able go back after Harvey to re-interview the 231 couples.
“We set out to study the effect of everyday stressors (such as financial problems or the transition to parenthood) on couples in their early years of marriage.
Williamson said, “When the hurricane struck in the middle of our study, it allowed to examine the effects of major acute stressors.”
Williamson stated that she had previously conducted studies and found that people who were happy with their relationships before the hurricane would be happier afterward. Those who were unhappy would be even happier.
Williamson stated that a relationship study combining data from before and during a natural catastrophe had never been done before.
Couples who are unhappy in their relationship receive a temporary boost after surviving a natural disaster, according to new research from the University of Texas at Austin. Pictured: A couple crosses a flood-prone street in Wuhan (China) in 2016.
She stated that a natural catastrophe can really put things into perspective.
“People see how important their partner are when they are freed from the stress of daily life.”
Other studies also found that stressors such money, children, and adapting for married life often lead to dissatisfaction in a marriage, causing a’stress spreadover’, the researchers stated.
Williamson suggested that couples should not be encouraged to move to a flood zone or fault line. Instead, Williamson suggested that there may be therapeutic uses to this approach if they can shift their perspective in the same way, without having to experience a natural disaster.
Williamson stated that as climate change intensifies, more people are suffering from disasters like wildfires and hurricanes.
The study was published in Psychological Science on this week.
The relationship boost was not indefinite—couples returned to pre-hurricane status within a year. Pictured: Students make their way across a flooded parking lot at Rice University after Hurricane Harvey on August 27, 2017
Hurricane Harvey left 80 dead, 800,000 homeless, or in need of assistance, and caused more than $133 trillion in damage to Houston, Texas, and the surrounding areas.
According to data from the World Weather Attribution initiative, climate change has made Harvey’s torrential rains more likely.
Harvey wasn’t caused by man-made global warming, but research showed that a warmer, more humid world tripled the chance of Harvey’s arrival. It also factored in the storm’s record rains.
CNN reported that Harvey was second in costliest natural disaster in U.S history after Hurricane Katrina.
According to a UN World Meteorological Organization report (WMO), weather-related catastrophes such as Hurricane Harvey are hitting four to five more times than they did 50 year ago.
According to the WMO, destructive events like flooding, storms, and droughts are causing seven-fold more damage than they did in the 1970s, but they are killing far fewer people.
The report was released ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, being held in Glasgow through November 12.