Finding the right person to marry obviously has an affect on your happiness, but new research shows that it also has a lot to do with your career success.

According to new research from Washington University in St. Louis, your spouse’s personality influences your work life.

“Our study shows that it is not only your own personality that influences the experiences that lead to greater occupational success,” says lead author Joshua Jackson, “but that your spouse’s personality matters too.”

Jackson and co-author Brittany Solomon, a graduate student in psychology at Washington University, studied the lives of nearly 5,000 married people, ages 19 to 89. Both spouses worked in about 75% of the sample.

The participants were given psychological tests to assess their openness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness. Over five years, they tracked their job satisfaction, salary increases, and how promotion-eligible they were.

Those who felt best about their work lives were more likely to have spouses who scored high on conscientiousness. The correlation between a supportive spouse and a successful significant other held up, regardless of gender.

What makes a considerate partner an indicator for success? Three factors can explain why these duos succeeded, the researchers found: