Marital quality and congruent drinking.

Abstract

A FTER REACHING ITS HIGHEST LEVEL in history during the 1980s, the divorce rate in the United States has been decreasing gradually over the last decade, yet the rate is still more than twice the divorce rate of the 1960s (National Marriage Project, 2004). The general level of marital quality is lower in recent generations compared with past generations (Rogers and Amato, 1997). Despite research on marital satisfaction over the past decades, many questions remain concerning changes in marital satisfaction over time. In a recent review on the subject, Bradbury et al. (2000) state that "research on how marriages develop and deteriorate is deficient in several key respects, and data are badly needed that will illuminate the factors that account for changes in satisfaction over key periods of marital development" (p. 975).One theory on marital satisfaction, complementarity, suggests that increased satisfaction exists among couples with opposite needs and personalities (Brehm and Kassin, 1993). However, research support for this theory has been limited. Rather, similarity between couples appears to be more strongly related to not only mate selection but also to marital success; this research has been reviewed by O'Leary and Smith (1991). In a study of over 1,000 couples, the ABSTRACT. Objective: This research considered whether changes in marital quality over the early years of marriage were related to patterns of alcohol use among three groups of couples: congruent nondrinkers, congruent drinkers who usually drank with their spouses and congruent drinkers who usually drank apart from their spouses. Method: Newlywed couples (N = 418) were assessed for marital satisfaction and drinking behaviors and then were reassessed at their first and second anniversaries. Cross-sectional analyses compared couples at each assessment and multilevel modeling assessed changes in marital satisfaction over time. Results: At each assessment, husbands and wives who usually drank with their partners reported greater levels of marital satisfaction. Over time, marital satisfaction declined for both husbands and wives. When we assessed changes in marital quality based on the three groups, husbands in each group experienced similar declines in marital quality. Among wives, however, the rate of decline was not the same. Although wives in the nondrinking group and wives who usually drank with their husbands had similar initial marital satisfaction, the nondrinkers experienced a greater decline in marital satisfaction than the wives who drank with their husbands. The rate of change for the wives in the nondrinking group was quite similar to wives who more often drank apart from their spouses. Conclusion: These findings suggest that alcohol use may be a part of the couple's socializing and may increase interaction, thereby increasing marital satisfaction. (J. Stud. Alcohol 66: 488-496, 2005.) relationships between marital satisfaction and similarity across a variety of domains (e.g., demographics, health, decision making) were assessed by Weisf...

Netiquette within married couples: Agreement about acceptable online behavior and surveillance between partners

“…The literature on addiction has shown that people who abuse substances or report addictive behaviors are more likely than others to have a long term relationship with someone who has the same type of problematic behavior (Grant et al, 2007;Homish, Leonard, & Cornelius, 2007;Ladd & Petry, 2002;McLeod, 1993a;Olmsted, Crowell, & Waters, 2003;Schuckit et al, 2002;Shaw et al, 2007). Homish and Leonard (2005) showed, for example, that similarity between partners in the level of alcohol consumption was related to greater marital happiness, particularly in young couples.…”

“…Other research on positive and negative behaviors' and attitudes' suggests that like marries like (Buu et al, 2006;Feng & Baker, 1994;Homish & Leonard, 2005;Homish et al, 2007;Mascie-Taylor, 1987, 1989Price & Vandenberg, 1980;Russell & Wells, 1991;White & Hatcher, 1984). A review of the literature suggests that there is no research that examines similarities and differences in surveillance behaviors within intimate relationships.…”

Early Adolescent Substance Use as a Risk Factor for Developing Conduct Disorder and Depression Symptoms

“…P ARTNERS DRINKING ALCOHOL TOGETHER is a ubiquitous part of many romantic relationships. Research indicates that certain relationship drinking contexts, particularly drinking with one's partner (vs. drinking apart), appear to be adaptive mechanisms for relationship functioning in that they are associated with greater intimacy and relationship satisfaction and fewer relationship problems (Homish and Leonard, 2005;Levitt and Cooper, 2010). A growing literature shows that couple members hold relationshipspecifi c alcohol expectancies (RSAE) that refl ect beliefs about the likelihood of alcohol's effects on distinct relationship domains (e.g., increased intimacy) that are associated with relationship drinking behaviors (Derrick et al, 2010;Leonard and Mudar, 2004;Levitt and Leonard, 2013).…”

Gender Differences in Family Formation Behavior: The Effects of Adolescent Substance Use

“…For instance, young adults signifi cantly reduce their frequency of substance use when they marry; however, frequency declines only modestly among people who remain single (Bachman et al, 1997;Leonard and Rothbard, 1999; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2004). A longstanding explanation of the "marriage effect" is that the cultural norms of adult family roles in marriage discourage substance use (Bachman et al, 1997(Bachman et al, , 2002Coleman, 1978;Duncan et al, 2006;Homish and Leonard, 2005).Assumptions that marriage changes all types of substance use behavior may not be justifi ed, however. In this study, illegal drug use was defi ned as the consumption of illegal drugs other than marijuana and concurrent substance use was defi ned as the consumption of more than one type of substance (alcohol, marijuana, or illegal drugs) in a given period during which such use may or may not be simultaneous.…”

“…For instance, young adults signifi cantly reduce their frequency of substance use when they marry; however, frequency declines only modestly among people who remain single (Bachman et al, 1997;Leonard and Rothbard, 1999; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2004). A longstanding explanation of the "marriage effect" is that the cultural norms of adult family roles in marriage discourage substance use (Bachman et al, 1997(Bachman et al, , 2002Coleman, 1978;Duncan et al, 2006;Homish and Leonard, 2005).…”