Marriage & partnership

Reddit's dad-focused subreddits are flooded with fathers admitting they are losing their tempers in ways that frighten them. Paternal burnout is real. It looks different from mum burnout. And ignoring it is breaking a growing number of modern marriages.

Four decades of research from the Gottman Institute have tracked what happens to couples after children arrive. The drop in satisfaction is real, measurable, and nearly universal. The recovery is also predictable, for the couples who know what to do. Here is what the research shows.