Does getting married make you a better person? Scientists seem to think so

New research has shown that getting married has the bonus effect of turning you into an overall better human being - so thank your spouse for that.

Tilburg University researchers in the Netherlands found that marriage helps foster feelings of self-control and forgiveness.

The researchers asked 199 newlyweds a number of questions and concluded that getting married makes people more forgiving. They also found married people are better at resisting temptation.

The findings were published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

"We propose that close relationships provide an ideal context to train self-control and forgiveness, which may result in higher levels of these two abilities over time," the researchers said.

"The rationale behind these findings is that forgiveness, like self-control, requires a transformation process, in which negative feelings, cognitions, and motivations that are caused by an offense are reduced and inhibited to restore the positive relationship with the offender."

They added that marriage works as a "training ground" for self-control and forgiveness.

This article was first published on NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.