A couples psychologist recently told us about how the best relationships are those in which both people feel as if they're part of a team — that they're partners in the truest sense.
And as any business management guru will tell you, the best partnerships are those in which people can exchange information clearly and directly.
So it's no surprise that one behavior that involves not sharing information is a burden on relationships: passive aggression, in which you show hostility without directly saying what's bothering you.
The latest data came out in a study of 135 newlywed couples led by Florida State University professor James McNulty and published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
As detailed by Melissa Dahl at Science of Us — where we first spotted the study — the study found that couples who talked about problems directly were happier than those that didn't.
Even if direct discussions involve some degree of anger, they still let the other person know what's bothering you.
Passive aggression doesn't.
"That is why [passive aggression] is problematic," McNulty tells NPR. "It conveys discontent without providing the partner with clear information about how to address the underlying issue," he says.
