Nov 23, 2015 10:03 PM EST By J Dionne, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that chores could be the difference between a happy marriage and a miserable one.

Researchers from the University of Alberta found that couples have more frequent and satisfying sex when both parties make a fair contribution to housework,Medical Daily reported. The same study also found there's no relationship between the amount of housework male partners completed and the sexual functioning of a couple.

These findings contradict a previous study that stated that when men perform what is regarded traditionally as female housework, things like doing the dishes, cooking and laundry, the couple had less sex, The Business Standard reported.

"(That study) didn't ring true," Dr. Matt Johnson, a family ecology professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta, said in a statement. "It didn't fit with my intuition and background experiences as a couple's therapist."

For the study, researchers examined data from a five-year study of more than  1,300 German couples to see if the amount of housework the male partner did was a predictor of a couple's sex life. He didn't find any connection. He also looked men's perception of whether they made a fair contribution to housework, and how that was related to their sex life.

"In any relationship, the amount of housework is going to mean something different based on the couple's context, based on their own expectations for what each partner should be doing, and their comparison levels of what happens with other couples they know," Johnson explained.

He found that when men perceived their contributions to the division of labor as fair, the couple engaged in more frequent sex and both male and female partners were more satisfied with their sex life.

"Rather than avoiding chores in the hopes of having more sex, as prior research would imply, men are likely to experience more frequent and satisfying passion for both partners between the sheets when they simply do their fair share," he said,

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Family Psychology.

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