Romantic Connection between Couples in Successful Long-Term Marriages - Essay Example

It is responsible for some of the life’s greatest joys such as feeling ecstatic and sexually fulfilled (Hatfield & Rapson, 2005, p.231), and yet also some of the life’s greatest worries and problems such as jealousy, depression, anger, murder, stalking etc. Romance may involve the focusing of energy towards another person to provide emotional support and reinforce the existing connection that originally brought them together or it may take on some other form. However, it attempts to convey the feeling that the partner is loved.

This study aims to understand how this phenomenon can be supported and sustained to strengthen the bond in a long-term relationship. That is, this study aims to reveal the factors that strengthen the romantic connection between couples in long-term marriages.The study implements a phenomenological approach to ground theory to identify the gestural and other behavioral features behind how successful romantic relationships are sustained. There are often unrealistic expectations for example, and imprecise conceptual understanding of romance.

In defining romantic love as distinguished from passionate love, this study makes a significant departure from many previous psychological studies, which did not make this distinction. Thus, as this study will show, the obsessive element found in passionate love may decline over the course of a relationship, but this does not mean that romantic love declines and an increase in commitment could be a hallmark of successful relationships.