If you read magazines or surf the internet, then you have probably seen a marriage quiz or two. They promise to tell you about the health of your marriage or how to improve it, and all you have to do is answer a handful of questions. But the real question whether or not such quizzes can have any kind of real impact on your relationship. When it comes down to it, it's better to have more information about your marriage than less, yet you should remain cautious when you look at the results of any marriage quiz you take.
There is no doubt that these types of quizzes are popular. That's why they seem to turn up as often as they do; the people who publish them know they will attract more people to their magazine or website. And it's no wonder when you consider that no marriage is perfect, which makes for a compelling reason for people to take such quizzes.
While marriage quizzes may be fun to take, there are times when they may do more harm than good. The problem is brief or incomplete quizzes can't really give you a real picture of where your relationship stands. The potential then exists for getting the wrong idea, and that can lead to unnecessary stress and insecurity. That's why you should think of most marriage quizzes as nothing more than a form of entertainment.
Let's face it, you can't determine how healthy your marriage is by selecting your favorite food, color or television show. Decent marriages are not based on any of these things, and neither are decent marriage quizzes. Again, you can take any of these quizzes you like, just remember to not take them too seriously. But even the least insightful quiz may have some value.
While the majority of marriage quizzes lack substance, you can still use them to improve your marriage. How can you do this? By using them as a means of starting a conversation. Let your spouse know you just took the quiz and then tell them how useless or stupid you think it was (or whatever other commentary you would like to make). You can then suggest they take it too, then compare your assessment of the quiz. This is a very non-threatening way to start talking about deeper issues. That's because you will be discussing the quiz itself, but because the topic is really marriage, it will be easy to steer the conversation in that direction.
There is one type of marriage quiz that could be quite useful for most couples. What we're referring to is a quiz that both spouses write together. You each write ten questions or so, and then combine them into one quiz. Then both of you take the quiz and compare answers when you're done. The questions you put on your quiz are entirely up to you. Don't worry about getting the answers right or wrong. The whole purpose is to get both of you talking about your marriage, and if a little quiz can do that, then it's worth taking it.
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