Source: Sarah 1xbet online casino , 785-532-6776, sriforgi@k-state.edu
Pronouncer: 1xbet online casino is Rif-fer-jet-tee
Website: http://commstudies.k-state.edu/about/faculty/sarah_riforgiate
News release prepared by: Tyler Sharp, 785-532-2535, tmsharp@k-state.edu
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Cleaning conflict: Research team looks at what happens when roommates, romantic partners have different levels of tolerance for housework left undone
MANHATTAN -- One area that can contribute to relational satisfaction between romantic partners or roommates can be division of household labor. Studies have shown that women traditionally do more in the household.
While the differences often vary based on the selected study, the amounts are disproportionate. Sarah 1xbet online casino , assistant professor of communication studies at Kansas State University, wanted to know why those differences exist. She collaborated with Jess Alberts and Paul Mongeau, professors of human communication at Arizona State University, to examine the issue.
The idea originated seemingly unintentionally. Alberts was leisurely reading about ants and bees and discovered that entomologists have found that insects have different threshold levels of tolerance for uncompleted tasks. If bees with different threshold levels are paired together, the bee that is most disturbed with a low honey level has been found to work harder, sometimes working itself to death. 1xbet online casino 's master's thesis and dissertation tried to determine if such thresholds exist in human relationships and what the effects are as a result. She examined same-sex roommates and found that, unsurprisingly, different thresholds have detrimental effects on relationships.
"If we have different threshold levels, we're more likely to have lower perceived relational satisfaction," 1xbet online casino said. "And we're much more likely to have conflict."
Differing threshold levels negatively impact the idea of task divergence and gratitude as well, she 1xbet online casino . When a romantic couple or roommates have differing threshold levels, the person with the lower tolerance level will often become bothered and complete tasks more promptly. Repeated instances of this behavior can lead to those tasks being regarded as the person's job.
"Then we no longer need to be grateful for our partner's work or compensate because it's their job," 1xbet online casino said.
Practical implications stem from the study's results. Special considerations might help in pairing roommates or assist couples in having important conversations before living together, 1xbet online casino said. 1xbet online casino 's team hopes to aid in this process by developing explicit communication strategies to improve relationships. She said a failure to complete a specific task is not always what it seems.
"If they don't notice it's a problem, it's not always simply because they're lazy," 1xbet online casino said. "We make really negative attributes about people who we live with -- roommates, romantic partners -- that are not helpful in our relationship and may actually have nothing to do with what's really going on."
The team considered several other factors in their research. The theory known as the integrative theory of the division of domestic labor accounts for biological differences between the sexes that would influence the completion of certain tasks. These differences go beyond sex roles, according to 1xbet online casino .
"Women have a slightly better sense of smell," 1xbet online casino said. "Men and women have a different number of rods and cones in their eyes. Men are better at seeing movement, and women are better at seeing color and texture. These small biological differences can contribute to differences in threshold levels."
Prior theories do an inadequate job of accounting for those differences, according to 1xbet online casino .
The team arrived at its results by sampling large introductory level communications classes. Students were sampled to ensure they met the necessary qualifications. The qualifying students predominately lived in apartments or residence halls and their average age was 19 or 20.
1xbet online casino hopes future studies will examine different intervention strategies with mixed-sex couples. She also hopes to implement the team's findings into an effort of better selecting college roommates. But 1xbet online casino knows that communication will not be the sole method of fixing relational issues.
"In past nontheoretical studies, communication has improved relationships, but it hasn't changed the allocation in a positive way," 1xbet online casino said. "I think we need to understand what is going on. That's why I've spent a lot of time determining if this theory is holding up."
1xbet online casino says the topic of study is central to the success of relationships.
"I think it has great application and it's certainly worth studying," she 1xbet online casino . "Our hope is that once we understand what we're studying that we can really see what types of communication make a difference."
