8 characteristics of a healthy relationship (8 key qualities)

The current blogspot will be based on the 8 characteristics of a healthy relation. It will enlist the characteristics of a healthy relation and quote examples for each characteristic while explaining the reason behind the requirement of each characteristic being vital to form a healthy relation.

What are the 8 characteristics of a healthy relationship? 

The 8 characteristics of a healthy relationship are as follows:

• You both trust each other
• You both Respect each other
• You both provide Safety to other
• You both Communicate to each other
• There is a mutual sense of empathy
• You both validate each other
• There is a sense of mutual honesty.
• There is a sense of love and affection for each other

Debnam, Howard & Garza (201)4 conducted a research study to highlight the key characteristics behind healthy relationships. The Empirical findings from the study suggested that the four most effective characteristics behind a healthy relationship as mentioned by the participants of the study were honesty, trust, respect and good communication. Whereas the qualities self-confidence, individuality, understanding and compromise were important at a level lower to the first four qualities.

You both trust each other (mutual trust for each other)

A sense of mutual trust is at the core of every healthy relationship. A healthy relationship is the one in which both members trust each other so that they both can enjoy the rights that the relationship has bestowed them with. 

Trusting your partner’s strengths and weaknesses and trusting the person at all the three levels of a relationship; emotional, physical and spiritual.

When partner’s trust each other, it becomes easy for them to grow and prosper in their relationship and enjoy other moments that life offers them together.

In a healthy relationship, there is no space for distrust and dejection. The relations where partners suspect eachother or don’t trust the capabilities and abilities of their partners often suffer in quality and functionality.

For example a husband would not just believe in anything that a third person communicates to him about his wife. As he trusts his wife, he would know what qualities she has and he would never suspect his wife without any evidence.

You both Respect each other (mutual respect)

For a healthy relationship, it is very necessary that you and your partner respect each other. A sense of mutual respect makes it easy for both partners in the relationship to function well in all areas of life.

Mutual respect in a relationship requires the participants to respect each other’s opinions, views and concerns regarding various decisions in life. It requires the individuals in the relationship to respect each other’s  boundaries. 

The mutual respect in a relationship also requires both partners to respect each other’s wants, needs and desires. It implies accepting the other person in the relationship for whatever the person feels, believes or behaves like without complaining about it every other day.

If partners of a relationship both support different political parties and they are both politically active, they will respect each other’s opinions and would not let the difference of opinions sabotage the quality of their relationship.

You both provide Safety to each other

Providing safety and safeguarding each other in a relationship is a crucial characteristic of any functional and healthy healthy relationship. The individuals of a relationship provide emotional, physical, financial and social security to each other. 

People in a healthy relationship try their best not to threaten the other person’s life through any means and safeguard the existence of their partner at personal and professional level.

For example, a wife takes care of the finances and property of the husband and takes care of herself as the husband is deployed to another city for some professional purpose.

You both Communicate to each other

A healthy relationship requires both partners to communicate to each other. The adequate communication among individuals of a relationship involves being true to each other and expressing one’s views and opinions to the other person calmly.

Individuals in a healthy relationship are able to effectively and efficiently communicate to each other through verbal and nonverbal means. Communicating with each other is crucial to better living and enables partners to convey their expectations of each other to each other.

The partners of a relationship communicate to sort their problems and talk to each other to overcome the blocks to healthy functioning. For example instead of fighting on increased budget and blaming it on eachother, both partners analyse the situation and sort it out together.

There is a mutual sense of empathy

Empathy demands to listen to another person without being judgmental of the way the person looks, feels, talks or behaves. It is a key quality behind any healthy relationship.

Empathy in a relationship doesn’t require fixing or sorting the partner’s issues or concerns; rather it suggests being there for your partner and listening to whatever they have to say, paying a listening ear to them paying attention to whatever they want to tell you or share with you.

Empathy demands that you and your partner are there for eachother during certain and uncertain times. Through a mutual sense of empathy the couples get close to each other and share their frustrations to each other instead of keeping passive aggression.

Empathizing your partner after they have had a bad day at the office due to late arrival at the office because of a dysfunctional car. Providing a listening ear and listening to their frustrations helps ease your partner.

You both validate each other (Accepting each other)

Validating each other in a relationship means accepting each other. Validation in a relationship is related to being on your partner’s side. Acknowledging your partner’s feelings, thoughts, concerns and views.

Validation helps to tell your partner that you understand them and hear whatever they say. It tells them that you are always for them at every stage of life. Through validation, you convey to your partner that he /she is being heard, seen and looked after. 

Acceptance through validation leads to unconditional love among the partners of the relationship.

There is a sense of mutual honesty

Mutual honesty and being true to each other is at the core of a healthy relationship. A key ingredient behind any functional relationship is honesty and truthfulness. Honesty suggests that the partners in a relationship do not deceive their partners at all levels including financial level, emotional level,  physical level and personal level.

Honesty requires the partners to remain true to each other despite the external and internal factors that might pressurize them or urge them to be dishonest to each other.

Absence of honesty and truthfulness among the partners in a relationship results in feelings of infidelity and suspiciousness among the partners. This further leads to unhealthy relationships.

For example, both partners stay honest to each other about any extended family member trying to intervene in their relationship boundary by hitting on anyone of both the partners. 

There is a sense of love and affection for each other (emotional regard)

A mutual sense of love and affection is the root of any relationship. Showing physical and emotional affection to each other is a necessary characteristic of a healthy relationship. 

Providing emotional and physical love to each other further enhances the individual well bellbeing of both the partners and also strengthens their relationship quality.

Emotional and physical affection is also related to unconditional positive regard for each other in a relationship. Praising each other, giving each other gifts, cooking for each other, giving gifts to each other, sharing hugs , making out love and cuddling are some of the examples of emotional and physical affection for each other in a healthy relationship.

Conclusion

The present blogspot is based on 8 characteristics that are crucial to a healthy and a functional relationship. We learned 8 key factors that are necessary behind an adequate relationship. For a healthy relationship, both the partners need to understand and adopt these characteristics. Respecting each other, a feeling of mutual trust, empathizing with each other, communicating effectively with each other, validating  (accepting each other) and providing affection to each other  (physical and emotional) are some of the vital characteristics for a healthy relationship. 

Frequently asked questions (FAQs): (8 Characteristics of a healthy relation)

Citations

https://thrive.kaiserpermanente.org/thrive-together/live-well/8-traits-happy-healthy-relationship

https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/38c63840/files/uploaded/The%208%20Characteristics%20Of%20Healthy%20Relationships.pdf

https://gateway2counseling.com/2018/11/02/8-characteristics-of-a-healthy-relationship/

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-25433/15-essential-qualities-of-relationships-that-last.html

Debnam, K. J., Howard, D. E., & Garza, M. A. (2014). “If you don’t have honesty in a relationship, then there is no relationship”: African American girls’ characterization of healthy dating relationships, a qualitative study. The journal of primary prevention, 35(6), 397–407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-014-0362-3