October 25, 2021
A new article from the Williamson Lab was published in Psychological Science this week. Past research has reached mixed conclusions about whether natural disasters draw intimate partners together or push them apart. In a longitudinal study of married couples who lived through Hurricane Harvey, which hit Houston, Texas, in August 2017, we discovered that spouses experienced a temporary increase in relationship satisfaction immediately after the hurricane but then declined in satisfaction over the following year. Although natural disasters may lead partners to team up and value their relationships more than usual, at least initially, those gains typically subside as time passes.
