Improve your marriage: become disabled

I found an interesting article on Science Daily. It describes a study that suggests that disability can strengthen a marriage, but there are some questions yet to be answered:

Does the age of the individuals or the number of years the couple has been together affect the level of happiness? What if disability is present at the start of the relationship? Do these relationships tend to be stronger than others, or does this strengthening only apply when a so-called "normal" person becomes disabled? Does it help when the disability is perceived as the natural process of aging, rather than as something that "shouldn't be"?

To what extent do perceived gender roles affect happiness? That is, do women feel no change in their happiness because they believe on some level (probably suppressed) that the man should be the caretaker?

To what extent can these findings be applied to all relationships? Perhaps it is the simple act of caring for someone that creates a stronger bond, and this can be applied to any romantic or platonic relationship. Perhaps this is just a study's confirmation of what spiritual leaders like Mother Theresa and Ghandi have already told us.

It is worth further exploration.