Is the U-Curve of Marital Satisfaction an Illusion? A 40-Year Study of Marriage
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2589326 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Caroline O Vaillant (corresponding author), George E Vaillant |
| Year | 1993 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 230 |
| Publication date | 1993-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Marriage and the Family (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-2445 • E-ISSN: 1741-3737 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/352971 |
| OpenAlex | W1964385691 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 68 |
| References cited | 19 |
The AA. report on a 40-year study of 169 college men and their wives. They examined marital satisfaction prospectively and retrospectively. When examined retrospectively, marital satisfaction followed a weak curvilinear pattern with the lowest point of marriage at approximately 20 years. When studied prospectively, the U-curve disappeared and marital satisfaction remained relatively stable, particularly in the middle and later years. The difference between the spouses came only in their assesment of the difficulty of solving disagreements, which seemed for the wives to become more difficult over time. These patterns of marital satisfaction held true whether studied according to number of years married, age of each partner, or stage of the family life cycle
Developmental psychology · Marital status · Population · Sociology · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Clinical Psychology · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology · Social Psychology
Prebirth predictors of coparenting experiences in early infancy
The development of the coparenting relationship over the transition to parenthood
Marital Happiness, Marital Duration, and the U-Shaped Curve
The longitudinal course of marital quality and stability
Depressive Symptoms and Marital Satisfaction
Casais de meia-idade
Quality of Marriages in Later Life and Emotional and Social Loneliness
Is an Empty Nest Best
Marital Satisfaction and Depressive Symptoms Among Korean Couples With Young Children
Stress Perception and Marital Instability Across the Family Life Cycle
Trend analysis of marital satisfaction of Chinese couples in the past 20 years
As Good as it Gets? A Life Course Perspective on Marital Quality
Life-span development of self-esteem and its effects on important life outcomes
Cross-sex versus same-sex experience and relationship satisfaction
Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Disruption
Predicting conflict within romantic relationships during the transition to adulthood
Revision in memories of relationship development
Children, traditionalism in the division of family work, and marital satisfaction
Attachment, marital satisfaction, and divorce during the first fifteen years of parenthood
Later‐Life Marriage
Resilience and Stress in Romantic Relationships in the United States During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Young Children’s Housework Participation in Taiwan
Age-related changes in emotional behavior
Development of self-esteem and relationship satisfaction in couples
Determinants of Marital Quality
Longitudinal profiles of marital satisfaction and their consequences among Korean couples
Adjustment and family functioning of grandmothers rearing their grandchildren
La sociología de la familia en España, 1978/1998
Marital Quality Over the Life Course
The Contribution of Couple Leisure Involvement, Leisure Time, and Leisure Satisfaction to Marital Satisfaction
Korean Pastors and Their Wives’ Marital Satisfaction and Its Predicting Factors
Research on the Nature and Determinants of Marital Satisfaction
Assessing Longitudinal Change in Marriage
Cognitive Coping Strategies of Newlyweds Adjusting to Marriage
Marital Quality and Relationship Satisfaction in Bosnian Herzegovinian Society
The Big Five Personality Traits and the Life Course
Specialization and happiness in marriage
Variation in trajectories of women’s marital quality
The relationship between involvement in household chores and problem-solving abilities among preschool children and the moderating role of parental scaffolding
A Multi-level Analysis of Thirty-two Societies on Marital and Family Satisfaction
But we've been getting better lately
Newlyweds’ Unexpected Adjustments to Marriage
Dyadic Adjustment in Couples
Exploring the Similarity of Partners' Love Styles and Their Relationships With Marital Satisfaction
Relational Factors in Understanding Satisfaction in the Lasting Relationships of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Couples
The natural history of male mental health
Does Marital Duration Moderate (Dis)Similarity Effects of Personality on Marital Satisfaction
Marital Quality of Black and White Adults Over the Life Course
Trajectories of negative and positive marital quality during later life
A primer on studying effects of relationship duration in dyadic research
Relationship satisfaction trajectories among low-income ethnic minority couples before and after a relationship education intervention
A developmental perspective on marital closeness and health in older adulthood
Relationship and sexual satisfaction
Emotion regulation and satisfaction in long-term marital relationships
Marital Satisfaction Among Taiwanese Young Married Couples
Marital Satisfaction With a Special Focus on Gender Differences in Medical Staff in Tehran, Iran
Trends in Marital Happiness by Gender and Race, 1973 to 2006
Does Long-Term Marriage Bring Less Frequent Disagreements
Dimensions of Marital Quality and Retirement
Race, Class, and Gender Differences in Marital Satisfaction and Divisions of Household Labor Among Dual-Earner Couples
Modeling Partially Incomplete Marital Satisfaction Data
Personality similarity and marital quality among couples in later life
The Long-Term Consequences of Relationship Formation for Subjective Well-Being
Longitudinal Changes in Marital Relationships
Marital Quality and Personal Well-Being
The Demand/Withdraw Pattern of Communication as a Predictor of Marital Satisfaction Over Time
Work-related influences on marital satisfaction amongst shiftworkers and their partners
Parents' Perceptions of Their Adolescent Children, Parental Resources, and Parents' Satisfaction With the Parent-Child Relationship
Predicting adjustment in marriage
Psychological Factors in Marital Happiness
Predicting Adjustment in Marriage
Short Marital-Adjustment and Prediction Tests
Disenchantment in the Later Years of Marriage
Marital Quality
Assessing Marital Quality with Distressed and Nondistressed Couples
A Half Century of Marriage
The Assessment of Marital Quality
An Empirical Evaluation of the Family Life Cycle
Marital Satisfaction over the Family Life Cycle
Bases of Marital Satisfaction among Men and Women
Perceived Marital Quality and Family Life-Cycle Categories
Marital Satisfaction over the Family Life Cycle
Factors of Marital Adjustment in Locke's Marital Adjustment Test
Measuring Dyadic Adjustment
Satisfaction with Various Aspects of Marriage over the Life Cycle
Marital Satisfaction over the Family Life Cycle
Divorce and Marital Instability over the Life Course
| Unique citing works | 68 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,13 |
| Citation span | 1994 - 2025 (32) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 64 |