Other Areas You Should Evaluate

Here are some more areas to evaluate. Answer these questions and construct your standards and ideas of a what a healthy relationship, according to you, requires. Again, discussing and sharing opinions with a friend you trust may provide some insight and further ensure the health of your relationships.

Communication:

• What do people who communicate well together tend to do?
• What characteristics are important in good communication?
• How will a couple in a healthy relationship tend to view the importance of each individual in the couple?

Physical Interaction and Behavior:

• How does a couple in a healthy relationship interact physically?
• Is physical force ever used for sex or to win arguments?

Responsibilities and workload:

• In a healthy relationship, how does a couple split decision making and other responsibilities equally?
•  Is one person doing more of the “emotional work” than the other person?

Economics:

• How will a couple in a healthy relationship make economic decisions?
• In a healthy relationship, who will benefit from economic decisions?

Dealing with Conflict:

• How will a healthy couple deal with conflict, disagreement or stress?
• How will they seek answers or resolutions to problems?
• How will they react to change?
• How will they deal with their own faults or past behavior?
• How do couples in a healthy relationship resolve problems and heal after an argument?

 Ideal interactions in a healthy relationship during conflict:

• Tension builds: Stress increases between partners.
• Conflict: Partners confront one another, discuss feelings and views.
• Resolution: Partners learn something about one another. Partners learn how to better handle conflict, and how to fulfill one another’s needs. 

Also remember that a healthy relationship is not just one in which there is an absence of physical abuse. The health of a relationship depends on emotional, mental, verbal, and economic respect. Please continue to the unhealthy relationship link if you would like to become more aware of the signs of abuse and how to recognize an unhealthy relationship.