The development of marital tension: Implications for divorce among married couples.

Abstract

Marriages are often characterized by their positive and negative features in terms of whether they elicit feelings of satisfaction and happiness or conflict and negativity. Although research has examined the development of marital happiness, less is known about the development of negativity among married couples. We examined how marital tension (i.e., feelings of tension, resentment, irritation) develops within couples over time and whether marital tension has unique implications for divorce. Specifically, we examined marital tension among husbands and wives within the same couples from the first to the sixteenth year of marriage, as well as links between marital tension and divorce. Participants included 355 couples assessed in years 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 16 of marriage. Multilevel models revealed that wives reported greater marital tension than husbands. Marital tension increased over time among both husbands and wives, with a greater increase among husbands. Couples were more likely to divorce when wives reported higher marital tension, a greater increase in marital tension, and greater cumulative marital tension. Findings are consistent with the emergent distress model of marriage, but indicate that despite the greater increases in marital tension among husbands, wives’ increased marital tension over the course of marriage is more consistently associated with divorce.

Strong Relationality and Ethical Responsiveness: A Framework and Conceptual Model for Family Science

“…Rather than the eight responsible actions, there may be at least eight negative and potentially destructive opposing behaviors that emerge when partners are not responsive. These include (a) criticism, hostility, and bitterness; (b) envy, irritation, and contempt; (c) enmity, coldness, and resentment; (d) busyness, personal pursuits, and digital distraction; (e) disregard and unsupportiveness; (f) revenge, defensiveness, and grudge holding; (g) sarcasm and mockery; and (h) unfaithfulness and selfishness (Birditt, Wan, Orbuch, & Antonucci, ; Gottman, ; Gottman & Silver, ; McDaniel & Coyne, ). However, even if these negative behaviors do not occur, if the positive responsible actions noted earlier occur without a responsive heart, they may be forced and unnatural—the outward behavior does not reflect responsiveness of one's heart to the Other.…”

A multidimensional examination of marital conflict and subjective health over 16 years

“…A shortcoming of this research, however, is that it has not accounted for the multiple ways married couples can experience conflict over the course of their marriage. Some couples disagree or experience irritation on a regular basis, whereas others only disagree on occasion (Birditt, Wan, Orbuch, & Antonucci, 2017;Choi & Marks, 2008). Couples can also disagree across several important aspects of marital life, such as money, children, and relationships with in-laws (Oggins, 2003;Tamini, Raghibi, & Bakhshani, 2012).…”

Birlikte Ebeveynlik Ölçeği: Ölçek Geliştirme, Geçerlik ve Güvenirlik Çalışması

“…When the results are evaluated in terms of descriptive statistics, it is seen that as the marriage duration increases, the coparenting conflict increases and the joint management of the family relations decreases. Due to the increase in marriage conflicts as the marriage duration increases (Birditt, Wan, Orbuch, & Antonucci, 2017), this may affect the coparenting behaviors negatively. In addition, another important finding of the study was that parents with undergraduate and graduate education levels reported higher coparenting relationships than primary school graduate parents.…”