Popular Press Vs. Research in relationship advice Essay

Popular Press Vs. Research in relationship advice - Essay Example Research is a bottomless pit that continues to grow day in day out. Several studies have brought forth certain truths about relationships, these have enhanced the way counsellors’ approach various aspects of relationships as well as helping individuals cope with difficult relationships. In order to elucidate the precise meaning of certain behaviour in a family or workplace setup research based conclusions have predicted adoption of certain measures in order to combat the situations. Research should be respected and embraced, because the awareness and beliefs adopted about relationship behaviour of people propagated through the media becomes the truth. The public is very thirsty for information on relationships. The media has continues to fill this gap by providing this coveted information. A careful evaluation of the information propagated by the media indicates some reasonable disparity with the research based findings. The observable trends are that there is a tendency by th e popular press to incline their attention on romance with very little focus on other type of relationships. This is because romance has been a topic that captures the attention of many hence translating to more sales. Therefore, the strategy is to make more money without a sincere concern of the impact the information given generates to the masses. Stereotyping has been a common misconception the media platforms have propagated. Holmes and Johnson (p 2) points out that the media has created the misconception to the public that continues to brand men as autonomous and easy to back off intimate relationships while women as emotional and anxious. Research indicates that despite the presence of gender differences are superseded by other aspects of an individual such as their personality, attitude, emotional intelligence, and beliefs among others. Therefore, the common notion propagated of the character and behaviours cannot substantively explain relationships. However, stereotypes may have their place but they should never be used to generalize relationships. The featuring of controversial icons has raised eyebrows on how relationships should be handled. Some of the prominent people have been implicated with various relationship-based evils such as domestic violence among other heinous acts. These individuals become even more famous and get to have even bigger coverage. To the minds of the people especially young people who are learning from the environment may be tempted to embrace what their favourite â€Å"star† is doing. Such information becomes are references to some individuals on what is done, information that they try to connect with what they know and conclude on what should be done on such situations. Such behaviours strengthen stereotypes, makes individuals to conclude on what is culturally acceptable, and that which is unacceptable. The media has created a mental picture that certain aspects of relationships are normal while research indicates otherwise. Divorce has been on the increase with couples calling for separation even days after marriage. Research has suggested several ways of avoiding divorce, mechanisms that have been highly beneficial to many relationships. Research findings have shown those individuals who divorce live depressed lives with little satisfaction and more health problems compared to their married counterparts (Amato and Previti 607). In contrary, the media has