ATLANTA – Keys to successful marriages for black couples include the ability to communicate openly, remain flexible about each person’s role in the relationship when challenges arise, and come to an agreement on how to manage income and assets, according to a Georgia State University-led study researcher.

The study, Black Marriages Matter: Wisdom and Advice from Happily Married Black Couples, was designed to help young African American couples understand the factors that can lead to happy, long-term marital relationships. The study was published in Family Relations magazine.

Antonius Skipper, assistant professor of gerontology and lead author of the paper, said much of the previous research on black families has focused on divorces and single-family homes. His research team and others have worked to put more emphasis on understanding and nurturing the factors that make black families successful.

The researchers found that only 29 percent of African Americans are married, which makes them the “unmarried racial / ethnic group in the United States,” even though the majority of African Americans choose to be married.

“The historical emphasis on black family deficits has contributed to a very limited understanding of strong black couples,” Skipper said. “Coupled with systemic barriers to marriage and the sometimes unrealistic wishes of a spouse, many young blacks have viewed marriage as unattainable.

“The lessons of the couples we interviewed teach us that many black couples overcome the same problems that others have torn apart. In overcoming these black couples, they are approaching marital advantages that blacks have been denied for centuries, such as generational wealth and the escape from poverty. “

The study was based on in-depth interviews with 35 happily married couples from several federal states who were already participating in a long-term research project.

The researchers concluded that maintaining open communication, including the ability to have awkward conversations, is an important skill for successful couples.

Strong couples also tended to have a flexible view of the roles they had to play at different points in their relationship. For example, the researchers found that husbands and wives of the couples studied could shift the balance between household duties and breadwinner status over time, depending on health or labor market challenges.

With regard to money, the study found that as long as the husband and wife were in agreement, it didn’t matter who managed the money, and “financial arrangements can be more important than financial comfort to marital stability”.

Skipper said the researchers hope the study will not only provide wisdom and advice to young black couples, but will also help change society’s attitudes about black families.

“Realizing that many black families have relational strengths that contribute to lasting unions takes us away from the widely publicized narrative that black communities are filled with single parents, indifferent fathers, and divorced people,” he said. “In short, as the title of the paper suggests, black marriages are important.”