Why Stress Makes Your Partner More Annoying
During challenging times, annoying habits take the spotlight
Is your partner absolutely getting on your nerves lately? Although their bad habits may be driving you up the wall, your reaction to them may not just be about what you think it is.
According to a study in Social Psychological and Personality Science, stress may be, at least in part, the culprit.
“We found that individuals who reported experiencing more stressful life events outside of their relationship, such as problems at work, were especially likely to notice if their partner behaved in an inconsiderate manner,” said researcher Dr. Lisa Neff.
Not even people in the honeymoon phase of their relationship are immune to this tendency. In fact, Neff zeroed in on these couples because, at this stage in the relationship, they’re generally more likely to focus on their partner’s positive traits, rather than paying as much attention to the negative ones.
Neff and her colleagues studied 79 newlywed couples, who were instructed first to share information about the stress they were experiencing in their lives at the time. Then, they were asked to complete a brief questionnaire every night for 10 days where they documented their partner’s behaviors, as well as their own. The…
