Going the distance

Romantic relationships are often viewed as an important, meaningful part of a person's life. Most romantic relationships do not last forever. Research regarding romantic relationship satisfaction and quality have thus grown. The purpose of this study was to determine whether individuals who train for endurance events such as running, cycling, or triathlons with their romantic partner have greater relationship satisfaction and quality than do individuals who do not train with their romantic partner. Participants, 54 males and 60 females whose mean age was 33.4, completed a demographic questionnaire, the Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI), the Perceived Relationship Quality Component (PRQC), the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS), and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS). Of these 114 participants, 52 trained with their romantic partner. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that individuals who trained with their romantic partner reported higher relationship satisfaction and quality compared to those that did not train for an endurance event with their romantic partner. There were no statistically significant differences in relationship satisfaction or relationship quality between men and women or between married individuals and dating individuals. These findings suggest that couples may benefit from engaging in shared activities.