The nature of fights between spouses may reveal whether the couple will stay together or go for divorce, a study said.

The research, conducted by Baylor University researchers, mainly focused on the factors that determined whether a person would use positive or negative communication during an argument.

Describing the results of study, lead researcher Keith Sanford said: "There is a notion that all negative emotion is bad and we found that simply isn't the case."

"As humans, we are very sensitive to is this person going to fight against me or cooperate with me. If you say more things that signal that you willing to cooperate, that can make all the difference," Sanford added.