Created: 4/10/2009 3:17:21 PM 
ST PETERSBURG, FL -- Is the secret to marital bliss not having kids? That's what some are saying after a new University of Denver study that suggests a couple's happiness takes a nosedive within a year after the birth of their first child. The 8-year study of more than 200 Denver-area couples found that those who had a child experienced an immediate dip in marital satisfaction.
Kent Osborne is a couple's educator and counselor with You&Me.We and says there are strategies to being in the ten percentile. "I think the thing about having kids is its an upgrade on being responsible."
Osborne says while he is not shocked by the numbers, with or without children, if a couple doesn't have a plan for dealing with those differences, he says every relationship will suffer.
"Is there a five to one ratio that couples are communicating with each other? For instance, what they like, what they admire about each other, or is the focus on what is wrong?"
Once you start to focus on the negative, he says, the dissatisfaction takes over.
