Using typologies outlined by Gottman and Fitzpatrick as well as institutional and companionate models of marriage, the authors conducted a latent class analysis of marital conflict trajectories using 20 years of data from the Marital Instability Over the Life Course study. Respondents were in one of three groups: high, medium (around the mean), or…

This article uses data from the 1973-2006 General Social Survey to assess the interactive impact of race and gender on marital happiness over time. Findings indicate independent and significant effects for both variables, with Whites and husbands reporting greater marital happiness than Blacks and wives. Comparing four subgroups (White husbands,…

Prior research indicates that the married enjoy higher levels of well-being than the unmarried, including unmarried cohabiters. Yet, comparisons of married and unmarried persons routinely exclude partnered gays and lesbians. Using a large probability sample, this study assessed how the well-being of partnered gays and lesbians (282) compares with…

This study tests status inconsistency theory by examining the associations between wives' and husbands' relative statuses--that is, earnings, work-time, occupational, and educational inconsistencies--and marital quality and global happiness. The author asks three questions: (a) Is status inconsistency associated with marital quality and overall…

In this study, the authors examine the effect of gender ideology on marital happiness in later life. Studies of marital satisfaction in later life have tended to neglect such attitudes, although they have received increasing attention in the literature on younger marriages. The authors use data from married individuals who range in age from 51 to…

The authors investigate the direction of the relationship between marital happiness and wives' full-time employment using the 1987 to 1988 and 1992 to 1994 waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. First, the authors predict change in wives' employment between the two waves using marital happiness and other Time 1 characteristics.…

Used data from a sample of 1,070 married Protestants and Catholics to examine the relationship between religious homogamy and marital happiness. Religious bodies were classified into six categories and then used to develop a measure of heterogamy or religious distance. Found the larger the religious distance, the greater the likelihood of…

Guided by a life course perspective, this study investigated whether the psychological consequences of transitioning into a caregiver role for a biological parent, parent-in-law, spouse, other kin, or nonkin among married adults might be moderated by marital role quality. Using longitudinal data from a national sample of 1,842 married adults aged…

Explored apparent anomaly that marital happiness and divorce are both lower in longer marriages using a national panel of over 2,000 married individuals interviewed in 1980 and 1988. Results indicated marital happiness had a stronger effect on divorce at longer durations than at shorter durations. (Author/ABL)

Analyzed General Social Survey data to determine if women's sex role ideology may be negatively related to marital happiness and stability. Found women with nontraditional gender values less happy and more likely to be separated or divorced. Results suggest that modern sex role ideology is negatively related to marital success for women.…

Guided by a life course perspective, attachment theory, and gender theory, this study aims to examine the impact of death of a father, a mother, or both parents, as well as continuously living with one or both parents dead (in contrast to having two parents alive) on multiple dimensions of psychological well-being (depressive symptoms, happiness,…

This study examined the effects of China's one-child policy on two traditional aspects of Chinese family life: filial piety and patrilineality. Eighty-four graduating university seniors, who were part of the first cohort born under the one child policy, were interviewed about their life plans. Comparisons between only children and those with…

Analyzed data from National Survey of Families and Households to compare marriages and cohabiting relationships. Found several broad differences in nature of two types of relationships. Cohabitors expressed lower levels of commitment to their relationships, reported lower levels of happiness with their relationships, and had poorer relationships…

Data from seven recent American national surveys found that persons remarried after divorce had rather high levels of reported well-being, but never-remarried women reported lower aggregate marital happiness than never-divorced married women or never-remarried men; the difference was not explained by race, age, or socioeconomic variables.…

Classified the social scientific literature on family decay and decline, finding change emphasized more than continuity, and the authors more concerned than sanguine, with a particular stress on concern for children. Reported happiness has declined among married women and men, and increased among never-married men. Cites potential difficulties for…