Secret to a happy marriage? Try watching TV together

Scientists found the activity improved relationship quality and commitment, especially when couples did not share a wide circle of friends.

The more often two people got together in front of the TV, or went to the cinema, the higher they rated their partnership, a study showed.

When couples did not have many friends in common, sharing media strongly predicted greater relationship quality.

Lead scientist Dr Sarah Gomillion, from the University of Aberdeen, said: “Relationships are very big contributor to our physical and psychological health so understanding how relationships can be better and how you can improve relationships can also improve our physical and psychological health.

“What these results suggest to us is that when people have a hole in their social network that they share with their partners, they might become more motivated to share media as a way to compensate for that deficit.

“Watching TV with a partner or watching a movie you both like is a really easy way to improve relationship quality and anyone can do it at any time, so if this is something that is good for relationships. It might help us identify an intervention that can improve relationship quality.”

The findings are reported in the Journal Of Social And Personal Relationships.