Research Says Love Dynamics for Married Couples Are Changing

Marital relationships come with complex challenges, and although this may look like something that can be worked on, the reality can be strikingly different. As everyone gears up to celebrate the season of love with Valentine’s Day, relationship dynamics for married couples need the most attention.

“When two people come together, the initial period, popularly known as the honeymoon period, is all about showering love on one another, and both are on their best behaviour. The gap starts to appear when time passes, and neither of the partners can sustain the relationship and love. That’s when the extramarital angle comes into the picture, and the feeling of being constantly loved takes centre stage over loyalty,” says Sybil Shiddell, Country Manager India, Gleeden.

Closing the Gap of Unmet Needs

While finding love in a partner outside marriage is common internationally, this has seen a massive rise in India. The pandemic has been a big contributor to this jump, and the app also reported that 66% of the new users came from tier-1 cities, with the rest from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. This has continued even after the pandemic, as the app saw Indian users increase by 11% in January 2023 compared to September 2022. This is a significant statistic as 2 million users in the extramarital app Gleeden are from India, making up 20% of the global user base.

An interesting aspect to note here is how Indian couples today are not shying away from seeking excitement or spicing up their romantic lives even if it is through an extramarital affair.

Monogamy who?

While marriages are and continue to remain a solid foundation of a relationship, the perspective towards it is changing drastically. In the swipe up era, commitment has become a luxury since people now prefer to have their options open. According to an internal survey conducted by the app in January 2022, 55% of the users feel monogamy, is a social obligation, while the remaining 45% still believe in it, however, affirm that monogamy is possible only under certain circumstances.

Moreover, respondents stated that the main reasons for committing infidelity are boredom (63%), naturalisation of infidelity (20%) – meaning that both partners agree to give some slack to the other in terms of sexual exclusivity – conflicts between the partner (10%) and falling in love with a third person (8%).

Hush Hush Plans

Being a part of an extramarital relationship definitely comes with the added responsibility of not ruining the marriage or relationships that are attached to it. The game of hide and seek is always on which means the extramarital partner is always the second priority. Amidst all this, it will be interesting to see what Valentine’s Day plans behold for couples having more than one partner to celebrate the season of love with.

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