The Early Marital Roots of Conjugal Distress and Divorce

Abstract

This article summarizes research that challenges conventional wisdom about the early roots of marital distress and divorce. We abstract results from a 13-year study that focused on the extent to which long-term marital satisfaction and stability could be forecast from newlywed and early marital data. We explore the usefulness of three models-emergent distress, enduring dynamics, and disillusionment-designed to explain why some marriages thrive and others fail. The dominant paradigm, the emergent-distress model, sees newlyweds as homogeneously blissful and posits that distress develops as disagreements and negativity escalate, ultimately leading some couples to divorce. The results we summarize run counter to this model and suggest instead that (a) newlyweds differ considerably in the intensity of both their romance and the negativity of their behavior toward one another and, for those who remain married, these early dynamics persist over time; and (b) for couples who divorce, romance seems to deteriorate differently depending on how long the marriage lasts. Soon after their wedding, "early exiters" seem to lose hope of improving an unpromising relationship; "delayed-action divorcers" begin marriage on a particularly high note, yet quickly show signs of disillusionment. These delayed-action

Cognitive Coping Strategies of Newlyweds Adjusting to Marriage

“…The transition to marriage seems somewhat paradoxical in that despite the reputation for newlywed bliss (Huston et al, 2001b), it can be a challenging life stage full of disillusionment with reality and adjustments to multiple relationship changes (Huston et al, 2001a;Schramm, Marshall, Harris, & Lee, 2005). Consistent with cognitive dissonance theory and prior research on cognitive relationship strategies (e.g., Davey et al, 2001;Murray et al, 1996), newlywed spouses would be expected to focus their thinking through a variety of coping strategies that function to maintain some marital bliss in the face of early marital challenges.…”

“…However, the earliest stage of marriage is also known for its blissful nature. Couples often report being most satisfied very early in their marriages before a subsequent dropping off of satisfaction (Huston, Niehuis, & Smith, 2001b;Vaillant & Vaillant, 1993), although not all marriages follow such a trajectory (Beach, Fincham, Amir, & Leonard, 2005). Marital bliss for many couples during such a major life adjustment seems somewhat paradoxical and could be expected to be a rare occurrence as opposed to the archetypal image it appears to mimic.…”

Полни Аспект Стратегија Суочавања Са Стресом И Њихове Повезаности Са Потенцијалом За Развод

“…(Обрадовић и Чудина-Обрадовић, 1998). Резултати истраживања разли-читих аутора (Carrére, Buehlman, Gottman, Coan & Ruckstuhl, 2000;Gager & Sanchez, 2003;Huston Niehuis & Smith, 2001;Karney & Bradbury, 1995a, 1995bKurdek, 1999) указују на то да је квалитет брач-них односа најзначајнија детерминанта брачне стабилности. Аутори из Србије (нпр.…”

Variation in marital quality in a national sample of divorced women.

“…This life course view can be contrasted with an enduring dy namics model that suggests that divorced couples may have con tinuously low marital quality from the outset because couples establish the quality of the relationship early on, perhaps even prior to marriage (Holman, 2001;Huston, Niehuis, & Smith, 2001). This may be particularly true for marital conflict (Kamp Dush & Taylor, 2012).…”