Your Score:

Results

Men 92 or lower
Women 142 or lower

Congratulations! You resemble married men and women who report high levels of happiness. Openness helps make your marriage strong.

Men 93 - 103
Women 143 - 153

You are similar to people who are relatively happy in their marriages. Keep up the good work. Appreciate the areas where you scored especially well.

Men 104 - 115
Women 154 - 164

You could improve the openness in your relationship. Look at the areas where your score was high. These are topics you need to address with your spouse.

Men 116 or higher
Women 165 or higher

Your marriage may be in serious trouble. If this scares you, you probably care enough to get help.

How to Talk
If you've avoided talking about a particular area of your life, the subject is probably sensitive for you both. Here are three strategies to help you step around landmines:

Softened start-up
When you introduce a topic, do so gently. Avoid attacks like "You waste all your time on the house and ignore me." Instead, say, "I feel out of touch with you. I miss you. How can we spend time together?"

Editing out the negative
Whenever your spouse responds angrily, edit out your own negative response and substitute a neutral one: "I don't see it that way, but I can understand how you might."

Accepting influence
No matter what the tone of any request your spouse makes, accept it as reasonable and listen. When the tone seems negative, interpret that as a signal that the request is important.