This guest article from YourTango was written by Teresa Maples.

Tragedy strikes and we wonder what happened. How can a talented country singer with two small children take her own life?

In the aftermath of Mindy McCready’s apparent suicide, many close friends, family members and fans are all asking the same question, “Why?” We can never know for sure why she did it. A better question may be, “How can we help those who are in despair?” How can we prevent others from committing suicide?

First let’s try to understand what may be happening for people who attempt or commit suicide, and then we’ll explore some ways you can help.

This guest article from YourTango was written by Kelly P. Crossing.

We’ve all heard the same stories about divorce: the parent who does his best to badmouth his ex, the parent who tries to keep the kids away from the ex as some sort of punishment, the parent who manipulates child support payments. These things do happen and plenty of children are harmed because of these and other divorce-related mistakes.

On the other hand, many parents do divorce right. Lots of parents understand that divorce is terribly hard on their children. These parents try to minimize the trauma every step of the way.

Here are five divorce techniques parents get right…

This guest article from YourTango was written by Kim Olver.

In an article published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, researchers found that couples who value their friendship over other aspects of their relationships report greater romance and sexual satisfaction over couples who look to their partners mostly for sexual gratification.

This probably doesn’t surprise anyone — but it’s great to have the research to back it up. So why do you think a friendship with your significant other will actually increase the odds you will have long-lasting love?

This guest article from YourTango was written by Dr. Karen Sherman.

In an article on Time.com, divorced couples offer lessons about what it takes to sustain a solid marriage. Relationships are tough; they require a whole lot more than love to make them succeed.

The divorced couples in the article suggest learning how to manage conflict, which is important because a leading researcher showed that with 85 percent accuracy, he could predict within 15 minutes which couples would divorce, simply by watching how they handled conflicts.

Fortunately, you can learn from these divorcées’ mistakes and learn to manage conflict in your relationship or marriage. Here’s how.

This guest article from YourTango was written by Dr. Tina Schermer-Sellers.

The fire of love is a fragile and fickle flame. I often hear stories of people leaving good relationships because they have developed deep connections outside the marriage. So, how can you keep your marriage intact?

There are four, cultural elements causing marriage and love to be more fragile in these modern times. They are:

1. We marry for love.

We have been doing this for less than 100 years. Up until recent history, we married because of family loyalties, property, status, religious mandates and social tradition.

Love is a fragile thing … it needs lots of TLC! If love is ignored, the bond in the relationship will weaken. Inside this weakness dissention, criticism and distance grows. Love is like a small flame; it needs lots of consistent time and attention to stay strong!

This guest article from YourTango was written by Mary Jo Rapini.

February is heart awareness month, so this study in the European Society of Cardiology caught my eye. It says that being unmarried increases the risk of fatal and non-fatal heart attacks in both men and women regardless of age.

Researchers also note that being married, especially among middle-aged couples, is associated with better prognosis of acute cardiac events before hospitalization and after reaching the hospital alive. Even when the couple is unmarried but co-habitating, there is a better prognosis after coronary events before and after hospitalization.

How can you gain these kinds of benefits from marriage?

This guest article from YourTango was written by Brock Hansen.

In a recent study, participants ranked sex first and alcohol second on a list of things that make them happy.

Meanwhile, childcare came in fifth place, begging the question: Why do people prefer sex and booze to kids?

Of course, there is some bias built into the comparison. We tend to think of child care as a 24/7 activity. I wonder how sex and booze would stack up if they were also a non-stop, no-vacation, activity.

On the other hand, I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t remember the day of their child’s birth or the first time they held their child and felt the amazing little grip of tiny fingers.

This guest article from YourTango was written by Teresa Maples.

Have you settled for companionship in your would-be romantic relationship? Companionship is when you exist in the same home but spend very little time together, and neither of you is particularly satisfied.

Take the stereotypical man-watching-football-while-his-wife-cleans-the-house scenario. She resents that he gets to relax while she slaves to keep the home clean. She complains about him watching football and not helping around the house. He becomes angry and they either argue or physically go to separate rooms to get away from each other. Does this sound familiar?

The good news is that romance doesn’t have to die in your long-term relationship. Find out how below.

This guest article from YourTango was written by Kim Olver.

Most men do not cheat because they don’t love you anymore. Men cheat because they want more variety in their sex lives. Some complain of being bored. They want to feel adored by their partners; they want to asert their freedom; they are tired of disappointing you; they want a partner who places them at the center of their life, and they no longer feel like the priority in yours.

Sometimes it’s because you are speaking different love languages, and some men say it is a biological directive to procreate with as many women as possible for survival of the species. Whatever the reason, men have an innate need to feel respected and appreciated by their partners. It is most disconcerting for a man to realize he has disappointed his partner in some way. He wants to be her hero.

So, here are 10 ways to prevent your man from cheating.

This guest article from YourTango was written by Dr. Christie Hartman.

Raise your hand if you’ve heard of oxytocin. If you have, that’s not surprising. To the extent that trends exist for substances that naturally occur in the human body, oxytocin is quite trendy these days.

In our attempt to understand the science of love and attraction, and recently more specifically about cheating, oxytocin has taken center stage, possibly outdoing dopamine in its ability to explain human relationships.

This guest article from YourTango was written by Dawn Michael.

We like to think that the holiday season is a blissful time for all, but for many couples, it can create extra stress to an already rocky marriage.

One of the biggest issues is finances — how do you afford the holiday without going into more debt? Another situation arises when you have a two-income household, with children, now out for two weeks, parents have the added stress of how to make it work.

And of course, there are the in-laws, as well as unwanted family gatherings. So what’s a person to do?

This guest article from YourTango was written by Dr. Christie Hartman

Recently, I joined a group of matchmakers and dating coaches for happy hour. We all introduced ourselves and talked about our specialty areas. I told them about my books, including my latest one, How To Find Mr. Right Online. Eventually, one of the women approached me and asked me a question I’ve been asked many times before by singles and experts:

“Do you think women should email men when online dating?” Without hesitation, I told her “Yes!” Not only is it okay to email men when dating online, it’s a useful tactic.

Here’s why.