Listen: University of Aberdeen study finds box sets "better for relationships"

They've put it down to shared social circles

Published 14th Sep 2016

Research from Aberdeen Uni suggests watching TV box sets together could strenghten our relationships.

They've found if couples' don't share the same social groups - they can make it up sharing fictional friends.

Dr Sarah Gomillion led the study - she explained to us what they found.

In the study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, the more frequently couples shared ‘media’, like box-sets and movies with their partner, the higher the couples rated their relationship quality and commitment to the relationship.

The research measured the extent to which people shared media with their partners, whether they had a lot of friends in common and how they rated their relationship.

Results showed that when people didn’t share many friends with their partner, sharing media strongly predicted greater relationship quality.

The more that they shared media with their partner - the more that they reported that they felt close and committed to their partner and vice versa.