BINGHAMTON, NY – Watching movies may be one key to marital bliss, says Matthew D. Johnson, director of the Marriage and Family Studies Laboratory at Binghamton University. In a recent study he conducted with colleagues at four other universities, couples attended counseling or watched relationship-themed movies and completed discussion guides together. Both strategies cut the groups' divorce rate in half after three years — but the movie-watching activity took 50 percent less time and took place almost entirely at home. "The key is to talk with your partner about your relationship in the context of a movie," says Johnson.

Matthew D. Johnson, psychology professor and director of the Marriage and Family Studies Laboratory at Binghamton University.

Department of Psychology / Area: Clinical Psychology

Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles Internship: Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Long Beach, CA E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 607-743-9906 Web: http://www.binghamton.edu/psychology/people/mjohnson.html

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