10 golden rules to keep romance alive in relationships

Getting into a relationship is easy, but keeping it alive is the difficult part.
There are plenty of things, big or small, that can wreck an otherwise great relationship. Now, Dr Barton Goldsmith, a California-based psychotherapist and the author of ''100 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence - Believe in Yourself and Others Will Too'' reveals what all can kill romantic relationships and how to save it from falling apart.

1. Money: It's the root of all evils, as they say. If a partner has been unscrupulous, getting the trust back can be a challenge, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

2. Sex/infidelity: A sexless marriage or unfaithfulness can extinguish love quicker than blowing out a candle. Don't let the flame burn out and try to renew your sex life.

3. Disrespect: Research shows that belittling, insulting or yelling at your partner can cut the chances of your relationship's survival.
4. Children: Some live for them, others would rather kill themselves. Make sure to keep things in balance with your partner, so you have the energy to deal with any child issues.

5. Opposite-sex friends: If you don't want your spouse/partner to dine out and have drinks with a member of the opposite sex, then you need to follow the same guidelines.
6. Resentments: Don't hold your pain, hurt or anger inside. If you are harbouring some resentment talk it out and put the matter to rest, so you can enjoy your relationship.

7. Lying/broken promises: Even if you're afraid of getting in trouble, tell the whole truth and don't break promises, and find a way to make up for past mistakes.

8. Laziness: Keeping a relationship is hard work, and if you are unwilling to do it, your connection will diminish and you will begin to resent your partner.

9. Being mean: If you punish your partner when you don't get your way, or if the two of you give each other the silent treatment, you are headed for a lifetime of emotional pain. Stop the nastiness and learn to talk about it.

10. Discomfort/remodelling: If you are living in a construction zone, it's pretty hard to feel comfortable. Injury or illness can create a similar situation. Your home should be a place of serenity, so if you are remodelling or are dealing with physical issues, make your comfort a priority.

Dealing with an expensive girlfriend

A girlfriend is a complicated person to begin with... the mood swings, the date fetishes and the ‘clean’ obsession! And if she has expensive tastes, chances are you’ve run to the end of your tether. We help you sail through!



And if she has expensive tastes on top of the usual mood swings, chances are you’ve run to the end of your tether. But then, she’s so cute.



And she really does care about you... So, what are you going to do? Breathe! Help is at hand and all is not lost. You can still keep her; but it will take some...let’s just call it ‘tact’.



Yes yes, we know how you feel. It’s all very well to pick up the dinner tab, but if she wants those overpriced, weird-looking, what-did-she-just-call-them-(pumps?) shoes, then she should be paying for them herself! And why shouldn’t she? She’s an independent, free thinking woman of the twenty first century who should be proud of being able to pick up her own tabs. Maybe you should reinforce that thought.



Let her know how proud you are of the fact that she is so confident of her independent lifestyle, and how well informed of all the latest fashion trends she is, and how confident she is about her ability to get on by herself (and is that not the reason you began to date her in the first place? So, let her know!). Chances are she will pay for her shopping to prove that you’re right.


Do you find yourself always headed out to one of those fancy expensive restaurants every time you have to go out and eat dinner? And then the bill always ends up burning a hole in your credit card... This one is easily resolved.



Quick question: what is more romantic than a candle-light dinner at an expensive restaurant?

Answer: a candle-light dinner on a rooftop (even on a rickety table top) that you cooked. Imagine it. A gentle breeze plays about the table (and the mosquito repellent that you strategically placed near the table keeps the pests at bay), the makeshift dinner table and tablecloth (even if it is stained at places) looks as lavish as the silk at a palace, and the love-light unmistakably shines in her eyes. And no need to bring up your credit card. Alternate suggestion: your room with the lights dimmed works just as well as the rooftop, and takeaway Chinese may work if you burnt the pasta.


The thing is that it is not how much money you spend that actually touches her heart. It is what you do with it. Your money may sometimes work as a substitute for your attention, but if you pay attention and spend some time thinking about how to make for her a perfect evening, you’ve just earned yourself a considerable number of brownie points. And that, after all, is the point of your expensive dinner date, isn’t it?



Here’s another question. Why must you always meet over a meal? Go on, be creative and find other things to do on your date... How about a game of tennis? She probably is looking for an excuse to wear that oh-so-pretty tennis skirt anyway. Not eating and burning calories instead?! Sounds like a good idea to us!



And once you’ve done that a couple of times, that shopping expedition where it’s the “done” thing to get her something won’t feel so bad on the pocket anymore. Plus have you thought about buying something beforehand, strategically vanishing during the shopping spree, magically reappearing with previously-(secretly) bought-at-the-factory-price-store trinket, and becoming the hero? Listen carefully. Can you hear her go “Awwwwwwww....”?

 

10 Signs of a Bad Relationship

A good relationship can be very fulfilling and add to your personality and similarly, a bad relationship can leave such scars that do not heal. Since, there has never been and never will be a relationship without its share of problems, it is important to know when it has reached a stage when going ahead with it is futile.


If you find yourself faced with one or more of the following situations or emotions in your relationship, know that it may be headed towards its end –

    Always feeling frustrated – If you are never happy about the state of your relation with your partner, and feel that your emotional needs are not being met, it may be time for a rethink. You need to decide how long is long enough!
    Your personal life – If your personal life has taken a back seat and your partner insists on ending the activities you used to enjoy before your relationship, it is a cause for deep concern. Your partner should accept you with the knowledge of your hobbies and interests and actually be supportive of them.
    Too many compromises – Have you sacrificed your ambitions, dreams and core values just to make your relationship work? Is this something always troubling you? If such is the case, the relationship may not be worthwhile to continue.
    Communication – If your partner makes disparaging remarks about your dress or appearance repeatedly, it is not a good sign. A partner saying such things which accentuate the feeling of insecurity in you is not making for a healthy relationship.
    You feel you need to change – Have you completely changed the way you used to dress just to be more attractive to your partner?
    Spending time together – Do you look forward to being together with your partner or actually look for excuses to avoid staying together? If it is the latter, how about a rethink?
    Settling Disputes – There are bound to be disputes in a relationship but the way you settle them is the difference between one that is successful or ruined.
    Your relationship with others – If your partner shows a lack of respect for your relationship with others, it is a sign of unhealthy relationship. Moreover, does your partner seek to end your good relation with others? Not a good sign that.
    Getting physical – This is a sure sign of bad relationship. Even if you are having strong urges to get physical, know that it is not to be taken lightly and must be resolved.
    Mutual respect – If your partner cannot appreciate you for any achievement in life, or undermines you very often, it is a cause for concern.

Heavier kids experience more social problems

Children who are heavier than their peers at ages four and five are more likely to struggle in their relationships with other kids several years later, an Australian study suggests.


After following more than 3,300 children for about four years, researchers found that the heavy kids were up to 20 percent more likely at age eight or nine to be described by their parents as having social difficulties and by teachers as having emotional problems.

"It`s interesting that we`re seeing these problems at an early age," said Christina Calamaro, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, who did not participate in the research.

"I think this speaks to the fact that health care providers need to take weight into consideration at an earlier age, so we can cut it off at the pass before they hit middle school," she told Reuters Health.

The researchers surveyed the parents and teachers of 3,363 Australian children participating in a large national health study. The interviews were conducted first when the kids were four or five, and again four years later.

The questions involved measures of children`s mental and behavioral health, such as emotional problems, hyperactivity and social skills.

Children also had their weight and height checked at each age.

At ages four and five, 222 boys (13 percent) and 264 girls (16 percent) were determined to be overweight, while 77 boys (4.5 percent) and 87 girls (5.2 percent) were obese.

Those kids with a body mass index (BMI -- a measure of weight relative to height) at least 1.6 points greater than their normal-weight peers at a young age were more at risk of having social problems, including isolation or teasing, later on.

For a five year old boy who is 40 inches tall and 40 pounds, for instance, a 1.6-point increase in BMI would translate into a weight gain of about two pounds.

At ages eight and nine, the heavier kids were 15 percent more likely to receive an evaluation of "concerning," based on parents` and teachers` responses about social interactions with peers. The heavy kids were also 20 percent more likely to get a "concerning" score from teachers on emotional development.

Lead author Michael Sawyer, a professor at the University of Adelaide, said it`s important to evaluate children`s social life in grade school because this is the age at which it starts to increase in importance.

"The quality of peer relationships during this period of time has the potential to have a significant impact on children`s later mental health," Sawyer wrote in an email to Reuters Health.

In the study, published in the journal Pediatrics, the authors write that the stigma of being overweight can translate into social struggles for these children, and the kids might withdraw themselves from social activities because they fear teasing.

Obese children are more likely to be bullied (see Reuters Health story of May 3, 2010).

Sawyer`s group did not find any differences between the heavy kids and the normal weight kids in their risk of mental health problems, such as hyperactivity or conduct disorders.

Other studies have found that later in life, however, obesity puts adults at greater risk of developing a mental illness like depression or anxiety.

Sawyer said he`d like to continue following the children to see whether the social problems his study revealed might be precursors to later mental health problems.

Your Handwriting can show if you’re Lying

If you want to know if someone is telling you the truth, just go through his or her handwriting, say scientists in Haifa, Israel.

According to psychologists, handwriting changes when someone lies, and this is so because the brain has to work harder to invent facts, which then in turn interfere with the normal writing process.

To reach the conclusion, researchers at the University of Haifa, Israel, asked 34 volunteers to write two short paragraphs, where in one they recalled a real memory while in the other a fictitious event, reports The Telegraph.

The volunteers used a wireless electronic pen with a tip that was pressure-sensitive in order to write their memories and lies.

Later the paper was placed on a computer tablet, which monitored and analysed their writing style.

The scientists then found those who wrote lies pressed harder on the paper, had longer pen strokes and produced taller letters than those telling the truth.

“In the false writing condition, the average pressure, stroke length and height were significantly higher than in the true writing condition,” the researchers said.

Professor Richard Wiseman, psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, told the Daily Mail the technique was promising.

“We know that people hesitate more when they lie and some companies already use this fact to see how long it takes people to tick boxes when filling in surveys online,” he said.

The study has been published in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Should girls play Hardsex to get?

While guys are always told to 'treat them mean and keep them keen', users in the MY Sun Woman forum wondered if the reverse was true.

Should girls play hard to get in order to bag themselves a man? Does making a fella chase after you result in a dream date or disaster? reports The Sun.

Goagirl is dubious at best: "I doubt it works. A relationship based on game playing is usually doomed to fail. It is cruel, dishonest and childish."

Mind games make for a bad start to a relationship for gem79: "I never play hard to get, I don't like playing with peoples emotions, it's really not nice."

chelle-pell suggests that boys get bored by babes keeping their distance: "A few of the guys I know tell me it's quite a turn off when a woman tries to make them chase after her, and they simply lose interest."

Giving us a guy's point of view, mick thinks women shouldn't get too carried away with playing it cool: "If the guy really likes the girl she might get away with it for a while, says The Sun.

"But she should give an indication that she is also interested if she wants to string him along."

However, ScienceGirl reckons being elusive is a great way to weed out the time-wasters: "What's wrong with playing a bit hard to get? It's been a tried and tested method throughout the ages!

"Nice guys don't need to be played with, you know they won't steer you wrong. It's the ones you're not too sure about, and you need to be sure they are after you for the right reasons.

"I find making guys work for my attention separates the wheat from the chaff."

Here's why women have Sex

Women indulge in sex not for love and passion, but for various other 'unromantic' reasons — including relieving themselves of boredom, out of pity for a man and even to cure a migraine headache, says a new book.

'Why Women Have Sex' by Cindy Meston and David Buss has highlighted 200 reasons as to why women have sexual intercourse. While attraction ranks way down in the list, it seems that women go to bed with their partners as a way of relieving boredom, keeping the peace, curing a headache and even as a thank you for a nice dinner.

"Research has shown that most men find most women at least somewhat sexually attractive, whereas most women do not find most men sexually attractive at all," the Telegraph quoted the authors, who are both psychology professors at the University of Texas, as saying.

The researchers interviewed 1,006 women as research for the book and found some very surprising answers. One revealed that she did it for a spiritual experience, as she thought it to be "the closest thing to God". Others listed "cure for stress headache", "to make my sexual skills better" and "for a clearer complexion".

However, the majority (84 per cent), admitted that they had sex to ensure a quiet life or to bargain for their partners to carry out household chores.
"I have sex to relieve the boredom. Because it’s easier than fighting. Plus it gives me something to do,” said one of the interviewee. While another admitted: "I had sex with a couple of guys because I felt sorry for them."

One of the surveys carried out by the authors revealed that one in ten women admitted having sexual intercourse in return for presents or lavish meals.
Responses included "he bought me a nice dinner" or "he spent a lot of money on me early on", "he gave me gifts early on" and "he showed me he had an extravagant lifestyle".

Beautiful women actually impair the male Brain

Men really do lose their minds while talking to an attractive woman, concludes a new study.

The study, published in the Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, has found that attractive women actually impair the male brain.

And psychologists say this is because males are "reproductively focused".

In the study, researchers found that men who spent even a few minutes in the company of a woman they found attractive performed less well in memory tests, reports The Daily Express.

Programmed by evolution to try to pass on their genes, psychologists at Radboud University in The Netherlands said males try so hard to impress the object of their desire that they have little brain power left for other tasks.

Women, on the other hand, were not affected by chatting to handsome men, probably because they focus on more than looks, the researchers said.

The findings have implications for the performance of men who flirt with women in the workplace, or even exam results in mixed-sex schools.

Women more likely to cheat on their partners than men

And you thought men do all the "goofing around" when the topic of long-term relationships arises – a new shocking UK poll has found that women are more likely to cheat on their partners than men.

Four out of 10 admitted they had been unfaithful compared to just three out of 10 men, the surprising study found.

The poll of 3,000 adults discovered that two fifths of cheats ended up kissing someone while out clubbing while almost one in four cheated with a colleague at a work event.

Fifty five per cent of the ladies confessed that they loved attention from men – and more than a third said men often get the wrong idea because they were so flirtatious.

More than a third also claim their ''''minor indiscretion'''' happened by accident because their flirting got out of hand.

The study was conducted by Opera North to open their new season with the Mozart opera Cosi fan tutte, translated as ''''All Women Are Like That'''' – a light-hearted comedy that looks at the very nature of infidelity, reports The Daily Express.

More than one in 10 women say they will never be completely monogamous in a relationship because life is too short.

A fifth of women admit they get a thrill from cheating on their partner, and despite knowing it is wrong want to do it again.

The poll also showed one in four women find complete strangers attractive and love the thrill of chasing them on a night out.

A further one in four said they could not resist the temptation of a man in uniform.

Here's how to woo a girl

Planning to woo a girl? Well, then here’s a pointer for you: eight out of 10 women love men paying them compliments – even if they are strangers.

That’s the conclusion of a new UK study, which found that up to half women are secretly pleased if they get wolf-whistles from builders or if a man in a car toots his horn at them.

However, three out of four men would not dream of complimenting a stranger or colleague for fear of being thought a pervert, creepy or that they are “coming on to” the woman, the survey has found.

Market researchers www.OnePoll.com said: “It is a sign of the times that men can’t do or say anything without feeling it will be taken the wrong way.”

The study found that 80percent women like it when male colleagues appreciate their appearance, especially if he is single, good-looking or the boss, reports The Daily Express.

Ninety-six per cent of girls love compliments from their partner, though nearly half respond with a wisecrack like “love is blind”.

Enduring the sex Marathon

Not very often does one get the opportunity to spend extended lovemaking time with their lover, but when such rare occasion does arise one should make it a point to keep it enjoyable as well as enduring.

Enduring a sex marathon can take a few hours or longer if the situation demands it, and many times it could go all night.

Thus, to keep oneself in good form, even the most virile and energetic must rest and rejuvenate, reports Fox News.

Before embarking on your sex marathon, it is better to be well-fed (but not too well) with food that releases energy slowly (such as grains and low GI carbohydrates) and be well hydrated.

And here are some tips on enduring a sex marathon:

Don''t orgasm

You can do this by choosing positions that provide less stimulation - because everyone is different, only you will know what these are for you. Change positions if you feel like you''re losing the power of your drive and erection or getting too close to orgasm. Bear in mind that having an orgasm isn''t the end of the session and you can take a rest before you continue. This is a good time to experiment with positions that you may not have tried with your partner.

Pleasure her to keep the focus off of you

If you do happen to need a rest while enduring a sex marathon or you do orgasm, you can easily shift the focus off of you and onto her. This can include cuddling, fondling, massage, general touching, and kissing. A rest does not have to be totally sexual in nature, and it is just as nice to make love for hours as it is to just touch each other in nice ways - or invent new ways of loving.

Don''t drink too much

Alcohol is known to be a relaxant and can be a wonderful addition to the time you share with your lover. In saying that, after two or more drinks, alcohol lowers a man''s ability to achieve and maintain erections, and can trigger an inability to orgasm for a long time. Alcohol also has sedative effects - it could cause you to fall asleep easily. Drinking can also encourage unsafe behaviour. Drinking too much alcohol will not help enduring a sex marathon.

Get creative

While enduring a sex marathon, you can introduce sex toys like vibrators, beads or sex paraphernalia such as whips, ropes and blindfolds. Food is also a great diversion and pleasure- ice cream, chocolate sauce or whipped cream are great. Get creative - you can draw out the process for quite some time with some very lusty teasing using these objects.

Keep lube handy

One of the main problems of sex play for hours could be dryness, so keep some good quality lubricant handy, one that tastes nice and is non-greasy. A glass of water nearby is also going to be useful, not only to rehydrate but to moisten your mouth.

How To Increase Stamina During Sex

There are a lot of men that want to learn how to increase sexual stamina. Most men only lasts a couple of minutes in bed. Which can make them upset, because they're not sure what to do about. So, what I'm going to do is share with you some tips on how to increase sexual stamina.

That way, you'll be able to last a long time in bed and be able to give your woman the best orgasm she's ever had.

The tips on increasing your sexual stamina are:

1. The first tip is to eat foods that will help you last longer in bed. The foods that you can eat include eating blueberries. Blueberries have vitamins and other nutrients in it that will help you increase your sexual stamina. Also, you should eat healthy foods like fruits and veggies.

The better you eat, the better your sexual performance will be.

2. Another tip on how to increase sexual stamina is to control your breathing. When having sex, your body is tense and your breathing is heavy. This will cause you to not be able to perform like you want to. Instead, you should breathe deeply and slowly.

Make sure it's natural, though. Forcing it won't help you.

3. The third thing you can do to increase your sexual stamina is to use a secret sexual position. This position is cool because it will help you last longer and will help you give her an orgasm. What you should do is insert your penis into your deep.

Make sure it feels good to her. Next, you should grind your hips, instead of stroking it in and out. The upper part of your penis is sensitive. So, if you are penetrated as deep as you can go, and you grind your hips, you will be able to last a long time in bed. It will also stimulate her clitoris.

These are some tips on how to increase sexual stamina. If you want to last a long time in bed, be sure to use the tips above. It'll help you have the best sex you've ever had, while giving your woman the orgasm she wants.

A good night's sleep much better than Great sex

If a new survey is anything to go by, a good night''s sleep is much better than great sex.

In a global sleep study of more than 12,500 frequent travellers, conducted by Westin Hotels, 52 per cent Asian respondents felt that a great night''s sleep trumped great sex, reports the New Straits Times Online.

The survey also found that 53 per cent would rather have a sleeping pill on their hotel pillow than the ubiquitous chocolate, while 56 per cent took a relaxant, sleep or stress medication when travelling overnight.

One in every two respondents felt a good night''s sleep was very important with 58 per cent believing that today''s technology and constant connectivity impairs sleep.

In the survey, 21 per cent said that the biggest worry that was keeping them up at night were things like bills or mortgage payments, 20 per cent said that problems with their spouse or partner kept them awake and 18 per cent said work related stress prevented them from getting a good night's sleep.

For male travellers in Asia, the main sleep prevention culprit was problems with their spouse or partner (20 per cent) while for females it was bills and mortgage (28 per cent).

For Canadians and Chinese, the biggest worry was problems with the spouse.

55 per cent those surveyed said that a great hotel bed provides a better sleep experience than their beds at home and 50 per cent agreed that sleeping in a hotel bed while on a business trip was a "luxury".

The survey also found that the most important service people expect from a hotel is a good night''s sleep (23 per cent), followed by a good restaurant and shower (16 per cent each).

The survey was conducted on people from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

Females don't fall for Flashy males

In the marine world, attracting a mate can be really tricky. A new study on three-spined stickleback fish has found that females do not always trust males who emit strong sexual signals.

Three-spined stickleback is a species of fish in which breeding males develop a red throat in order to attract females. Sticklebacks can breed several times over the course of the summer, but pay a heavy price since few survive for another year.

Now, in the study, evolutionary biologists, from Glasgow and Exeter universities, found "initial flashy displays" by males were not always successful at attracting a mate.

The study said some females waited until sexual signals were more honest as weaker males exhausted themselves with "shows" they could not sustain, reports The BBC.

Lead researcher Dr Jan Lindström found that the honesty of mating displays could vary dramatically over time.

Dr Lindström said: "Honesty in males mostly depends on how many opportunities there are to breed.

"If males can breed now but the future promises little in terms of further matings, all males should immediately reveal their ''true colours'' - so that the signals they produce are a reliable indication of their quality.

"But if males can potentially breed several times over the course of a breeding season, it pays those in best condition to keep some of their strength in reserve.

"In contrast, those males in poorer condition cannot afford to delay seeking a mate, so must signal as hard as they can - with the result that at the start of the breeding season a female cannot reliably judge a male''s quality from his signal.

"However, as time goes on, the poorer condition males must drop out of the competition, leaving only the better ones and making it easier for a female to pick a high quality mate."

Dr Lindström added: "We found that the redness of the males changed over the summer, with all starting out red but only those in good condition being able to sustain their colour.

"As predicted by our model, females seemed to ignore the redness of a male when choosing a mate in early summer, and only developed a preference for redder males later, once it became a more honest signal of a male''s quality."

The study will be published in the scientific journal, American Naturalist.

Date 12 times for a perfect mate!

Want to find your one and only? Well, then the best chances of finding the perfect partner is to date at least 12 people before even thinking of marriage. That's the calculation of a leading mathematician. According to Clio Cresswell, singles can increase their chances of finding true love by rejecting at least 12 potential partners before settling down. Cresswell's theory, which is based on statistical assessment, claims the chances of divorce is generally very high unless singles date at least a dozen time before they get hitched.

"In Australia, the divorce rate is about 35 per cent for first marriages," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted her as saying. She explained: "Now, if you were buying a DVD player and I told you it had a 35 per cent chance of breaking down, you might think twice about making that purchase.

"But we still insist on going into marriage with this belief that our partner is the one for us and we have a 100 per cent chance of success.

"According to my principle, you have to reject at least 12 people to increase your chance of finding your long-term partner. If you do that, you raise the chance of making it work to 75 per cent."

The senior lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, in the University of Sydney, has explained her theory in her new book Sex and Mathematics, apart from introducing it into her tertiary classes.

However, she has a grievance that mathematics is not liked by a lot of people. She said: "I think it's so sad that the wider community does not embrace mathematics as much as it could. Mathematics can be fun." (ANI)

Math formula says date at least 12 times to find the perfect Mate!

Want to find your one and only? Well, then the best chances of finding the perfect partner is to date at least 12 people before even thinking of marriage.

That's the calculation of a leading mathematician.

According to Clio Cresswell, singles can increase their chances of finding true love by rejecting at least 12 potential partners before settling down.

Cresswell's theory, which is based on statistical assessment, claims the chances of divorce is generally very high unless singles date at least a dozen time before they get hitched.


"In Australia, the divorce rate is about 35 per cent for first marriages," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted her as saying.


She explained: "Now, if you were buying a DVD player and I told you it had a 35 per cent chance of breaking down, you might think twice about making that purchase.


"But we still insist on going into marriage with this belief that our partner is the one for us and we have a 100 per cent chance of success.


"According to my principle, you have to reject at least 12 people to increase your chance of finding your long-term partner. If you do that, you raise the chance of making it work to 75 per cent."

The senior lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, in the University of Sydney, has explained her theory in her new book Sex and Mathematics, apart from introducing it into her tertiary classes.

However, she has a grievance that mathematics is not liked by a lot of people.

She said: "I think it's so sad that the wider community does not embrace mathematics as much as it could. Mathematics can be fun."

Facebook Fuels jealousy in relationships

Married couples, beware of Faceboook. It triggers jealousy in your spouse.

The more time you spend surfing this social networking website, the more jealous your partner feels, says a new Canadian study.

The study also finds that the need for popularity drives young people to disclose more personal information on Facebook than they normally would reveal.

In their study, Emily Christofides and Amy Muise of the University of Guelph near Toronto say Facebook use leaves many triggers for jealousy in your partner.

Says lead author Amy Muise,"You check your partner's (Facebook) page and you see a post from someone you don't know that says, 'It was great seeing you last night'.

"Even though it could be something very innocent, it can easily be interpreted another way.''Once triggered, she says, Facebook-fuelled jealously leads your spouse to dig for more information about your chat partners, thus setting in motion a vicious cycle.

If it is not stopped immediately, your relationship may soon go from "married'' to "complicated'' to divorced.

According to the study, though the majority of people (76 per cent) are concerned about privacy and information control, they still disclose a great deal of personal information in online environments.

"They share and show more about themselves than they might in other social settings. We wanted to find out if different psychological factors are involved in that behaviour,'' says co-author Christofides.

This includes information about birthdays, email addresses, hometowns, school and degree major, and intimate photographs, she says.

Christofides says that the nature of the social networking website is a contributing factor as Facebook includes a template where users fill in information - from their name to relationship status to even their religion.

"This creates 'norms' regarding what specific information to disclose based on what others have disclosed,'' she says.

As a result, people may choose to leave out revealing information, she adds.

"The need for popularity was (also) found to be a significant predictor of information disclosure," adds lead author Amy Muise. Thus information disclosure becomes the key factor in assessing one's popularity on Facebook.

"What others share and say about you is also a part of Facebook. The people who are the most popular are those whose online identity is actively participated in by others. So the more you share, the more others respond,''says the study.

Thus, popularity and disclosure become inextricably linked, the researchers say.

"People with a high need for popularity may indeed care about their privacy, but they may not be willing to sacrifice their popularity by implementing privacy controls,'' according to Christofides.

As part of their study, the two researchers surveyed 343 Facebook users, all university students between the ages of 17 and 24.

Facebook, which has over 200 million users worldwide, is also the most popular networking website in Canada. The study has been published in the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour