National Council On Family Relations

Marital Happiness and Stability: A Review of the Research in the Sixties
Author(s): Mary W. Hicks and Marilyn Platt

Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 32, No. 4, Decade Review. Part 1 (Nov., 1970), pp.
553-574
Published by: National Council on Family Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/350251 .
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Marital Happiness and Stability: A
Review of the Research in the Sixties
MARY W. HICKS AND MARILYN PLATT*
Research in the decade of the sixties relevant to marital happiness and stability
is reviewed. Attention is centered on instrumental, affective, and temporal
(especially family life cycle) variables as they account for the variance in marital
happiness and stability. Data from the research reviewed confirm previously
established findings with regard to these variables but add some new dimensions
and perspectives. Certain pervasive methodological problems in research on these
topics are outlined and some suggestions are made for future research.
The decade of the sixties has seen a sig- is labeled happiness, satisfaction, success,
nificant development in the research focus or adjustment.
on marital stability and happiness. Initially, Stability, too, is a phenomenon difficult
research continued to concentrate as it had to measure. However, the extreme of low
for the preceding twenty years upon the stability eventuates in the dissolution of the
the statistical relating of demographic, marriage and becomes a public index which
personality, and social variables suggested can be studied. This review will include
as possibly important for marital happiness research which seems to be concerned with
and/or stability. As the conglomeration of marital stability, cohesiveness, etc., or with
variables multiplied endlessly, some re- divorce. Outside the scope of this review
searchers stepped back from their work to are studies of marital stability as it relates
view the findings with perspective and to to other variables such as children in the
seek theoretical bases to assist in accounting family, etc.
for the diversity of findings and to direct A final restriction is that this paper con-
further research. Progress has been uneven, siders only studies on marital stability and
and not necessarily in chronolgical order; happiness in the United States. A scattering
the last ten years have brought studies in of research studies focused on other nations
all stages of this development-from the de- have appeared, but so many problems with
scriptive search for relevant variables to the regard to comparability would be raised by
formulation of theoretical frameworks. One any attempts to review and integrate these
purpose of the present review is to assess that coverage has been restricted with re-
this expansion of knowledge about the cor- spect to nationality. However, a few theo-
relates of marital happiness and stability, retical articles which did not originate in
and the conceptual frames that have been the United States have been included. Al-
proposed to explain them. though every attempt has been made to
Scope of This Review make the bibliography comprehensive, only
In our society marriages are assessed by those studies will be reviewed which seem
to have contributed substantially to knowl-
two norms: happiness and stability. Happi-
ness is an extremely personal and subjective edge or theory.
phenomenon and difficult to measure with FORMULATION OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS
the tools that are currently available to Problems of Conceptualization
social scientists. Included in this review,
then, is research which seems to have been Early studies of marital happiness and
concerned with the subjective feeling about stability were basically atheoretical with
the state of marriage-whether this feeling few specific hypotheses to investigate. When
studies did reflect anything more than em-
? Mary W. Hicks, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Fam- piric curiosity or an investigator's desire to
ily Life, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. determine the validity of his personal
Marilyn Platt, M.Ed., is a Graduate Student in the De-
partment of Individual and Family Studies, Pennsylvania hunches, they borrowed piecemeal from
State University, University Park, Pennsylvania the general theories of the relevant dis-
November 1970 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 558

ciplines; i.e., sociology, psychology, and cess, for either husband or wife may be
social psychology, etc. Only recently have dissatisfied in marriage where there is no
attempts been made to fit all current knowl- conflict or incompatability, or they may be
edge together into a comprehensive con- highly satisfied in a union which has un-
ceptual frame tailored to the question of solved problems of adjustment" (1963:292).
marriage itself. According to Lively (1969), marital suc-
cess has too often been viewed as a state
MethodologicalProblems of achievement rather than as a continuous
In the absence of any foundational theory variable whereas in fact it is probably not
giving rise to a uniform set of concepts, the even a unitary continuous variable since
definitional problems in research on marital the success of one person is not necessarily
happiness are almost overwhelming. "Hap- equal to that of another or to the relation-
piness," "success," "adjustment," and "satis- ship as a whole. In a similar manner, the
faction" are the terms most frequently used concept of marital adjustment suggests
to delineate the subjective state of the existence of some ultimate condition, rather
marital relationship. These words have than a continuous process. Lively (1969)
many nuances of meaning, and behavioral concludes that in view of the drawbacks the
scientists who have explored these phenom- continued use of these terms is detri-
ena have been unable to formulate precise mental to the development of precise
definitions for any of them. As an alterna- analyses and theoretical formulations of
tive most investigators have essentially let marriage as interactional behavior.
the subjects provide their own definitions, In the body of the review, it has not
thus making true comparisons impossible. seemed feasible to distinguish in each in-
According to Lively "so many connota- stance the exact conceptual distinction of
tions have become attached to each [of each author due to the enormous ambiguity
these terms] that there seems to be justifica- within as well as among sources. At the
tion for advocating their elimination from end an attempt will be made to suggest a
the field" (1969:113). conceptual framework which may help to
Specific criticism of the use of "hap- sort out some of these factors. Meanwhile,
piness" has come from several sources. the lack of consensus with regard to defini-
Lively (1969) notes that it is difficult to tion of terms restricts both comparability
pinpoint the source of one's happiness, and generalizability in addition to restrict-
whether it is the result of marriage or other ing the credibility of the findings.
things in life; husbands and wives do not Researchers in this field have also been
agree about the level of happiness; factors plagued with problems of measurement and
which make one person happy do not neces- design. Most often each investigator idio-
sarily serve the same function for another syncratically defined and operationalized
and personality traits may have a lot to do his own terms. Research has been dom-
with the frequency and intensity of re- inated by the use of questionnaires, self-
ported happiness. Burgess et al. (1963) rating instruments, and other paper and
have listed a number of objections to the pencil techniques. Perhaps excessive re-
use of happiness as a criterion of marital liance has been placed on self-report. In-
success: the evaluation is subjective, a vestigators frequently take the simplistic
marriage may be happy for the husband view that satisfaction with the spouse auto-
but not for the wife, there is no guaranty matically indicates satisfaction with the
of honesty, one may not know whether one marriage rather than the view that the
is really happy or not, and there is a known whole marital situation influences satis-
tendency for subject to give socially desir- faction or dissatisfaction. Satisfaction in
able responses. Finally, Luckey (1964b) marriage is usually measured by a com-
points out that happiness has been used posite instrument which taps such areas as
both as a single criterion of and as a com- amount of conflict, degree of agreement,
ponent of successful marriage. shared activities, self-rating on happiness,
The other terms used in research relative perceived permanence of the marriage, etc.
to the state of the marital rela,tionship are Typically, no evidence is presented con-
equally subject to criticism. Burgess et al., cerning the reliability and validity of the
claim that "Satisfaction with marriage is measures used. There is virtually no re-
not by itself an adequate measure of suc- search in this area in which observation of
554 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY November 1970

behavior by trained observers provides the Family sociologists have postulated for
data or in which self-report data were many years that a least two basic marital
validated against such objective criteria. types co-exist in the United States: the
institutional and the companionship. The
Representativeness assumption has been that the institutional
It is true that through the use of demo- is the older, more firmly established type
graphic data, some research on marital but that, for a variety of social and personal
happiness, particularly marital stability, has reasons, there is a shift toward the compan-
a more representative sampling base than ionship marriage.
other social research. Nevertheless, many In the institutional marriage adherence to
samples have been accidental samples-only traditional role specifications, custom, and
rarely have probability samples been drawn mores would be the factors which would be
from specified populations. Often when most significant to the success or happiness
probability samples were used the groups of the marriage. This is a tradition-oriented
from which they were drawn (i.e., church marriage in which modal roles exist, and
or university groups) have been notably are sex differentiated. The husband role is
atypical. The bulk of the studies used held to be the more instrumental, the wife
young subjects (aged 20-40) who had been role, the more expressive-integrative. In this
married an average of 10 years. The pop- marital type, since the wife is more accom-
ulation of the samples tended to be white, modating and the husband more rigid in
middle-class, college educated persons, role needs, marital happiness is more a
many affiliated with protestant churches. function of the husband's possession of the
The generalizability of existing findings expected instrumental needs and capacities.
concerning marital happiness and stability Thus, the instrumental aspects of marriage
must be questioned because of sampling predominate. Variables such as higher oc-
deficiencies. cupational statuses, income, and educational
Sample Size levels for husbands; husband-wife similar-
Related to the problem of representative- ities in socio-economic status, age and re-
ness is the problem of sample size. Samples ligion, and religiosity might be expected to
were smaller than desired, and the use of be significant for happiness in this marital
small samples is open to serious question type. It has been frequently suggested that
when the measures employed are crude and this is the modal type and that those mar-
of limited reliability. Those samples which riages which follow this model have the
have been sufficiently large to serve as the greater likelihood of achieving marital hap-
bases for generalization have most often piness.
been the least representative of the general A second, emerging type, usually referred
population; though there are a few notable to as the companionship marriage places
exceptions such as Gurin et al. (1960) greater emphasis on the affective aspects
Blood and Wolfe (1960) Orden and Brad- of the relationship. Emphasis is placed on
burn (1969) and Renee (1970). personality interaction-role specifications
are taken for granted and may even be
FINDINGS FROM RESEARCH added to. But, whatever these specifications
What variables had been identified by are, much more is expected and even de-
1960, as being related to marital happiness? manded. Companionship, expressions of
In general, higher occupational statuses, love, etc., characterize this pattern; and
incomes, and educational levels for hus- marital happiness is a function of the ex-
bands; husband-wife similarities in socio- pressive aspects of the relationship. Vari-
economic status, age, and religion; affec- ables such as esteem (a,ffection) for spouse,
tional rewards, such as esteem for spouse, sexual enjoyment, companionship; and com-
sexual enjoyment, companionship; and age munication might be expected to be sig-
at marirage had all been delineated as nificant to happiness in the pattern.
variables correlated positively with marital Of course, it has never been suggested
happiness. Non-whites have different and that these are two discrete types: that in-
essentially less happy marriages. It should strumental factors are not important in the
be noted, of course, that at best these vari- companionship marriage or that affective
ables accounted for less than one-third of factors are not important in the institutional
the variance in marital happiness. marriage. What has been suggested is that

generally there is not an equal emphasis Findings from research studies in the sixties
on these aspects and the marital type is provide evidence strongly supporting these
defined by the aspect which predominates. assumptions. The most compelling results
Nearly all the variables which had been suggest, further, that high happiness is re-
found to be positively associated with lated more significantly to the male than to
marital success, by 1960, had also been female role performance. The critical im-
found to be negatively associated with portance of the male instrumental role in
divorce and instability in marriage. This marital happiness finds support in study
fact (which will be explored somewhat after study.
more closely at a later point in this review)
led many theorists to adopt what seemed Congruence of Role Perceptions
to be obvious corollary conclusion: happy Luckey (1960a; 1960b; 1960c) selected
marriages are stable marriages; and, con- 81 couples, all at the University of Min-
versely, unhappy marriages are unstable nesota, from a much larger subject-pool in
marriages. order to provide two groups highly differ-
As an alternative approach to the statis- entiated on the Locke and Terman marital
tical relating of different variables to marital happiness scales. The Leary Interpersonal
happiness, some very few researchers prior Check List (ICL) was completed by each
to 1960 used the family life cycles as an subject for self, spouse, ideal self, mother,
explanatory variable. The results of these and father. Congruence or divergence be-
early studies are confusing because they tween the respondent and these "significant
differ considerably in the ways in which others" could be estimated on each of four
they conceptualize and operationalize their scales provided by the ICL. Analyses of the
dependent variables. At the beginning of data revealed that satisfaction in marriage
the sixties, it would have been impossible is related to the congruence of the hus-
to say much more than that marital hap- bands' self-concept and that held of him by
piness varies over time and a trend toward his wife. The relationship does not hold for
a decrease in happiness appears to be in- concepts of wives. Happiness is also re-
dicated. lated to congruence of the husband's self-
In the interests of conceptual clarity, the concept and his concept of his father, and
isolated variables that have been the focus congruence of the wives' concepts of their
of research during the last decade will be husbands and concepts of their fathers. In
examined under the two rubrics mentioned short, when husband and wife agree that
above. That is to say, are the variables as- he is as he wants to be (which tends to
sociated with marital happiness or unhap- be like his father); and as she wants him to
piness more consistent with one archetype be-(which tends to be like her father),
or the other? Are instrumental variables or both are happier.
affective variables more significantly re- In an elaboration of these data, Luckey
lated to marital happiness? What conclu- (1960b) noted that less satisfied husbands
sions can be drawn from this type of re- saw their fathers as being less loving, co-
search to date? Research that has taken operative, and responsible than themselves.
the alternative approach of using the family This result is not easily interpreted, but one
life cycle (or time) to account for the var- might speculate that less adequate fathers
iance in marital happiness will be consider- inhibit role identification so that less satis-
ed in a separate section. fied husbands were unsure of themselves
in their male role. Such a speculation
MARRIAGE
INSTITUTIONAL would be consistent with the general find-
Instrumental Variables ings regarding husband's self-perceptions.
The expectation that role perceptions and In a separate study, Stuckert (1963) ar-
performances are related to marital hap- rived at the same conclusions with regard to
piness rests on the concept of the family the wife. He, too, found that it is important
as a matrix of defined, interlocking and in- for marital satisfaction that the wife ac-
terdependent roles. Within this frame of curately perceive her husband, but not
reference congruence in role perceptions as important in itself that the husband under-
well as compatability between role expecta- stand his wife. Fifty couples, selected on a
tions and actual performance would be as- random basis from couples who applied
sociated, in general, with high happiness. for marriage licenses in Milwaukee, were

divided into satisfied and dissatisfied groups an 85-item adjective check list from which
on the basis of their response to the Bur- the subjects chose the 25 adjectives most
gess-Wallin Schedule. Role concepts and descriptive of themselves and the 25 ad-
expectations were determined by means of jectives most descriptive of the spouse. In
a set of 30 questions incorporated into an a later session they performed two coopera-
interview schedule. During the interview tive tasks.
the subjects were asked to evaluate ten
personality needs (those most frequently Compatability of Role Expectations
and Performance
listed in a study of marital choice by
Anselm Strauss) in three different ways: Hurvitz (1960; 1965) has pursued the
their importance in marriage in general; issue of expectation and satisfaction with
their importance in his own marriage; and his Index of Strain. Ten role items were
their importance from the point-of-view of ranked twice by each husband and each
his spouse. For wives, marital satisfaction wife, first for the subject's performance,
correlated highest with the extent to which and second for the expectations of the
their perception of their husband's expecta- spouse's behavior. He defined the Index of
tions correlated with the husband's actual Strain as the cube root of the sum of the
expectations. For husbands, similarity be- cubes of the differences between the ranks
tween their own role concepts and expecta- the subjects assign to each role. Hurvitz
tions and those of their wives is the most reported the following results.
important single factor in marital happiness. The Index of Strain is significantly higher
Although less convincing by themselves, for husbands than for wives. That is, wives
three additional studies add supporting conform more to husbands expectations
evidence. Kotlar (1965) using Leary's In- than husbands do to wives. The husbands'
terpersonal Check List studied the role and wives' Index of Strain correlate +.20.
perception of 50 middle-class couples who The correlation of the Index of Strain with
were defined as adjusted on the basis of the Locke-Burgess- Cottrell Marital Ad-
the Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale and justment Scale are as follows: the hus-
50 unadjusted couples who were clients of bands' Index of Strain is -.22 with their own
marriage counselors. She found that con- marital adjustment, and -.23 with the
gruence of perception was significantly re- wives' marital adjustment. Yet the wives'
lated to husbands' and couples' marital ad- Index to Strain is significantly correlated
justment scores, but not to wives' adjust- with neither their own nor their husband's
ment scores. adjustment.
Taylor (1967) found that a greater sim- A further line of evidence that the hus-
ilarity between self-perception and spouse's band's instrumental role is important to
perception of self was related to good mari- marital happiness comes from Blood and
tal adjustment and that empathic accuracy Wolfe (1960) in their cross-sectional study
was more significant with respect to the of 900 Detroit wives in an area probability
perceptions of the husband than to percep- sample. Their compound measure of satis-
tions of the wife. He used the Wallace faction was constructed from items on re-
Marital Success to select 50 couples with ported satisfaction with standard of living,
high marital success from persons in church companionship, understanding, and love
affiliated clubs; and he selected 50 unad- and affection (plus the congruity of her
justed subjects from public and private expected and desired number of children),
marital counseling. The instrument used to and by the comparative importance she
measure perception was the Leary Inter- attached to each of these five aspects of
personal Check List. marriage. They found that an important
A positive relationship between marital source of marital satisfaction for the wife
happiness and the favorableness of the is the husband's prestige or social standing
male's self-description has also been re- in the community; the higher the status, the
ported by Katz et al. (1963). Fifty-nine greater the wife's satisfaction.
paid volunteer couples were used, and they In an analysis of data from the Cornell
filled out three questionnaires: one rating First Child Study relating to satisfaction
the extent to which the spouse satisfied or during pregnancy, Meyerowitz (1970) dis-
thwarted ten psychological needs; ano-her cussed eight aspects of marital satisfaction
a self-disclosure questionnaire; and the third and their experiental concomitants as

manifested during first pregnancies. He been shown in the past. He suggested that
found that enhancement of the husband's this may indicate that there is a time lag
self-image was related during pregnancy between the acceptance of new societal
to aspects of socioeconomic status and spec- roles for women and the acceptance of the
ifically to the wife's continued confidence in new familial role distributions that are in-
him as a husband first, then as a father, evitably necessitated by these changes.
when she becomes a mother. The tendency for non-employed wives to
The findings of three different studies, have, on an average, higher marital adjust-
Westley and Epstein (1960); Aller (1962); ment scores than employed wives; and for
and Cutler and Dyer (1965), while more the difference in average scores in favor of
limited in scope, support the evidence that the non-employed wives to be larger in
role perceptions and performance along the lower than in the upper socioeconomic
traditional lines is significant for marital group was demonstrated in a study by
happiness. Westley and Epstein in a small Gover (1983). He divided 361 wives into
but intensive interview study found that middle and working class categories on the
women who had kind and loving fathers basis of their husband's occupation and
and whose husbands now fulfilled these into 97 low, 149 medium and 99 high mari-
emotional needs were satisfied in the mar- tal adjustment categories by results of
ital relationship. Aller (1962), in a ques- Bowerman's general evaluation of marriage.
tionnaire study of the marital happiness of In contrast to this, Blood and Wolfe in
students, found that too great a capacity their Detroit Study (1960) found that
for independent thinking and too much working wives of low-income husbands and
aggression, self-centeredness or dominance non-working wives of high income hus-
in wives threatened the self-concepts of bands were equally satisfied wiLh the mar-
husbands and marital patterns were affected riages.
adversely. Cutler and Dyer (1965), in a Nye (1961), in a study of mothers of
questionnaire study of 60 couples under children in grades one and ten, married at
age 23, found that wives used more shared, least six years and with one or more chil-
adjustive responses that husbands did in dren, living in urban areas, found that
the relationship. marriages of employed mothers were more
likely to be characterized by conflict. A
Wife's Employment higher proportion of non-employed mothers
A series of studies have addressed them- with good marital adjustment was found.
selves to the issue of the employment of If the husband disapproves of his wife's
the wife and marital satisfaction, and have status (whether working or not working),
obtained data which lend still further the wife's marital adjustment is likely to be
credence to the significance of the hus- lower. "The data suggest that any net
band's instrumental role. adverse effect of employment on marital
Axelson (1963) collected, by means of a adjustment is less in the higher socioeco-
questionnaire mailed to a randomly selected nomic families than in lower" (1961:118).
25 percent sample of males from a small One of the most thorough and carefully
western town, data relative to marital hap- formulated studies on marital happiness is
piness and the employed wife. Analyses of the one on the working wife by Orden and
122 responses supported previous research Bradburn (1969). The study consisted of
findings of poorer marital adjustment when 781 husbands and 957 wives in four ran-
the wife works outside the home, and domly selected communities in Illinois. The
when the wife works full time rather than researchers built a concepitual framework
part time. Husbands of working wives in- of marital happiness composed of dimen-
dicate a significantly greater amount of sions of satisfactions and tensions, and did
poor marital adjustment suggesting that the a cluster analysis of responses on two
working wife may be perceived as a threat checklists pertaining to recent pleasurable
to the husband's culturally defined domin- experience and disagreements. Satisfaction
ance and that the male believes the chil- is reflected in the companionship and soci-
dren will suffer from the wife's absence. ability that spouses enjoy, and tension is
Axelson observed that in spite of these reflected in the disagreements the spouses
findings, the husbands reported a greater encounter. Since these twoi independent
acceptance of the wife working than has dimensions do not correlate they are not

two ends of a continuum; however, satis- would expect as compared to family-
faction is positively related to marital oriented subjects. Subjects who were rela-
happiness while tension is negatively re- tively unhappy were influenced by peers
lated. The differences between scores on two and one-half times more frequently
the two dimensions is called the Marriage than those influenced by the family or
Adjustment Balance Scale (MABS). Over- church, before marriage.
all happiness was a combination of per- Sporakowski (1968) tested a Marital Pre-
sonal assessment and the MABS score. paredness Schedule, a Preparedness, Pre-
Three groups of wives were studied-those diction and Adjustment instrument for pre-
in the labor market by necessity, those in marital education and counseling on 730
the labor market by choice, and those at undergraduates in several colleges, includ-
home (presumed by choice). The findings ing 57 married subjects. He found no sig-
indicate that "both partners in a marriage nificant relationships between the three
are lower in marital happiness when the scales, and that marital preparedness scores
wife is denied a choice and is in the labor were independent of marital status. How-
market only because she needs the money ever, students with democratic family
than when the wife participates in the authority patterns, strongly family-oriented
labor market by choice" (1969:399). When religion (Mormon), and from middle or
the woman works out of necessity, the upper class status, had relatively higher
husband experiences an increase in the preparedness for marriage.
negative aspects of marriage-tensions; and Children. It is popularly assumed that
the wife sees a significant reduction in the children and marital happiness go together
positive side-sociability with her husband. and are causally related. This assumption
There seems to be no difference in marital has received little or no support from em-
adjustment between wives who work by pirical research in the sixties. Hurley and
choice and those who stay home, but there Palonen (1967) obtained evidence that the
is a slight tendency for more favorable higher the ratio of children per years of
marital adjustment to accompany part-time marriage, the less satisfactory the marital
rather than full-time work or staying home. experience will be. Forty couples from a
Other Variables university student population were given
the short version of the Locke-Wallace
TraditionalSocialization.If happiness in scale, a new multiple-choice version of the
the institutional marriage is related to the Family Concept, and were asked for bio-
ability to conform to, and to accept institu- graphical information. The mean child
tional role obligations, norms, customs, etc., density (number of living children divided
then it might well follow that conventional by the number of years of marriage) was
family-oriented socialization practices
,40, or one child per two and one-half years
would be linked with higher marital hap- of marriage. They report that child den-
piness. This proposition has been investi- sity was related negatively to marital satis-
gated by two separate research studies and faction in this special population.
the results, in a very general way, support Luckey (1966) found no relationships
the already well-established fact that child- between the number of children and mari-
hood experiences are critical to marital tal satisfaction. However in a later study
happiness. (1970), she found that children may be the
Whitehurst (1968) found that higher in- only source of satisfaction in an unhappy
volvement in family activities and more con- marriage. The two groups of 40 married
ventional stvles of life was associated with couples identified as satisfactorily and un-
higher marital adjustment and intensive satisfactorialy marired (Luckey, 1961) were
peer-groups socialization before marriage asked to report what they considered to be
was associated with lower marital adjust- the greatest satisfaction(s) in their mar-
ment. His sample consisted of 216 married riage. A significantly greater number of
couples who had been married an average people in unsatisfied marriages listed chil-
seven years. An adaptation of the Locke dren as their only satisfaction.
Scale was used to divide high and low
scoring groups. He found that the peer- COMPANIONSHIP MARRIAGE
oriented !subjects appeared in the low In the companionship marital type hap-
scoring group more frequently than one piness would be more contingent upon

variables such as feelings of affection, "satisfied" and "dissatisfied" groups on the
sexual enjoyment, companionship, etc. Re- basis of Locke's Marital Adjustment Scale
search studies on these variables have not and Terman's Self-Rating Happiness in
been abundant; although some interesting Marriage Scale described the spouse's per-
findings have emerged. sonality on the Leary Interpersonal Check
List. Satisfied persons saw their spouses as
Affective Involvement being moderately managerial, competitive,
Evidence that the quality of the inter- modest, docile, cooperative, responsible,
personal relationship is associated with and characterized spouses as considerate,
marital happiness comes from Gurin et al. helpful, tender, bighearted, friendly, neigh-
(1960). In a representative sample, 2460 borly, and warm. Unsatisfied persons saw
Americans over the age of 21 were inter- their spouses as impatient with the mistakes
viewed as to areas of adjustment and of others, cruel and unkind, frequently
methods of handling problems. Personal angry, hard-hearted, gloomy, frequently
involvement was found to be positively re- disappointed, bitter, complaining, jealous,
lated to marital happiness. and slow to forgive. She concluded that
People who report very happy marriages "one's degree of satisfaction or dissatisfac-
are more likely to concentrate on relation- tion with his marriage is very definitely as-
ship sources of happiness, while those re- sociated with the personality concept he
porting less happiness in marriage tend to has of the spouse" (1964:220).
concentrate on the situational aspects of Chilman and Meyer's (1966) limited
marriage (home, children, social life) as study of 102 married students and 102
sources of their marital happiness. Con- single students by questionnaire and Stern's
versely, in the association with sources of Activities Index found that the married
unhappiness, we see that those happier in students were happier than those not mar-
marriage-when they give any reasons for ried. Nearly all of those married were
unhappiness-tend to focus on situtational happy that they married early; over half
sources, while the less happy stress diffi- found marriage better than they had ex-
culties in the relationship (or the spouse). pected. They also found that "love and
Thus, feelings of happiness in marriage companionship in marriage received a far
bear a clear relationship with the extent to higher rating from the married group than
which a person is satisfied or frustrated in sex satisfaction, living conditions, and aca-
the relationship aspects of his marriage. demic pursuits" (1966:75).
When he is happy with the relationship Levinger (1964) concluded from his
aspects of the marriage he tends to feel study of task performance in relation to
generally happy in the marriage; when un- marital happiness that both husband and
happy with this aspect of the marriage, he wife place a higher value on the affective
tends to be unhappy. . . To a considerable aspects than on the instrumental aspects of
extent happiness in marriage implies hap- task performance. Sixty middle-class
piness in the relationship (1960:98). couples with children (36 couples having
They found that even though the more an elementary school child, and 24 couples
educated tend to be happier they also tend who were clients of family service agencies)
to have more feelings of inadequacy and ranked marriage goals and described
more problems than the less educated. With spouses real and ideal performance in both
more education, marriage apparently be- these areas in an interview. Partners were
comes more central in one's life, a factor then observed for task performance and
which also gives it a greater potential of activity level.
being satisfying or stressful.
Important data with respect to the rela- Communication
tionship between marital happiness and the Inherent in the concept of the compan-
affective relationship between husband and ionship marriage is the belief that to be
wife comes from Luckey's (1964a) investig- 'successful couples must have effective,
ation of whether people who like being open, rewarding communication. Navran
married see different personality traits in (1967) used the Marital Relationship In-
their spouses from those who do not like ventory (MRI) to select 24 happily mar-
being married. Eighty couples of similar ried couples, and 24 couples from those
age, length of marriage, etc. divided into who sought marriage counseling comprise

an unhappily married group in a study to Personality Factors and Need Satisfaction
investigate this relationship. The subjects Since personality factors are presumed
took the Primary Communication Inventory to weigh heavily in marital satisfaction-
(PCI) and the findings support his con- especially in the companionship marriage-
tentions about the relationship between these variables have continued to be the
effective communication and marital adjust- focus of some research in the sixties. In
ment. Happily married couples had both sum, the findings from these studies fall into
better verbal and nonverbal communication a pattern which might be expected on the
than did unhappy couples, but good verbal basis of other research and common sense.
communication is more strongly associated A balance of good or redeeming char-
with good marital adjustment than is good acteristics is important for marital happi-
nonverbal communication. The intercorrel- ness (Murstein and Glaudin, 1966), and
ation of the PCI and MRI was extremely there is some relationship between nega-
high (r - 82). Happily married couples tive types of personality characteristics and
di,ffer from unhappily married couples in unhappiness in marriage, but it is not clear
that they: whether these personality characteristics
(a) talk more to each other, (b) convey produce marital problems or marital prob-
the feelings that they understand what lems produce these personality types (Mur-
is being said to them, (c) have a wider stein and Glaudin, 1968). Emotional stabil-
range of subjects available to them, (d) ity correlates positively with marital hap-
preserve communication channels and piness (Dean, 1966 and 1968), and adapt-
keep them open, (e) show more sen- ability and flexibility correlate positively
with marital happiness (Buerkle et al.,
sitivitv to each other's feelings, (f) per-
sonalize their language symbols, and (g) 1961; Crouse et al., 1968).
make more use of supplementary non- Since need satisfaction has frequently
verbal techniques of communication been postulated as a requisite for happiness
(1967:182). in the companionship marriage, research
has sought to describe this relationship. The
Levinger and Senn (1967) obtained
evidence that strongly support the associa- bulk of the research has been directed
tion between marital satisfaction and full toward the verification or refutation of the
disclosure of feelings. Thirty-two couples theoretical model of need satisfaction pro-
vided by Winch. Of central interest to
(15 undergoing counseling and 17 elemen- researchers has been his hypothesis that
tary school parents) and 17 couples in
which one partner was a university student, maximum need gratification for married
were measured on 15 indices of marital partners is complementary rather than
satisfaction and given a questionnaire to similar in nature. A series of studies further
measure self-disclosure. Agency couples had exploring this hypothesis by Katz et al.
a lower proportion of disclosure than the (1960), Blazer (1963), and Murstein
other couples. Disclosure of feelings tended (1961) have been unsuccessful, as have
to be correlated positively with general most of the preceding research, in finding
marital satisfaction, but it was even more a pattern of complementary differences.
positively correlated with good feelings Blazer (1963), in fact, found that marital
about the other person in the relationship. dissatisfaction rather than satisfaction was
strongly associated with need complemen-
On the other hand, Cutler and Dyer tarity.
(1965) concluded from their data that
contrary to what might be expected, open Other Factors
talking about violation of expectations does Confirmation of the belief that black
not always lead to adjustment. Their study people and others with low incomes and
included 60 couples with husbands under little education are more likely to be dis-
age 23, and with over half of them having satisfied with marriage comes from Renee
no children. Responses to, a questionnaire (1970). She reports this difference persists,
were judged as adjustive, non-adjustive, or regardless of other conditions, but is sharp-
non-action; and whether responses were ly reduced for husbands at higher socio-
negative or positive, shared or unshared. economic levels. The relationship between
Almost half of the non-adjective responses marital satisfaction and socioeconomic
came from shared feelings. status is stronger for blacks than for whites

is noted also by Blood and Wolfe (1960), Levinger (1966) studied the marital dis-
Gurin et al. (1960), Bernard (1961), satisfactions of 600 couples who were di-
Landis (1963), Levinger (1966), Udry vorce applicants with children under age
(1967), and Scanzoni (1968). A unique 14, by means of a mandatory interview with
finding from the study reported by Renee a marriage counselor. In general, his find-
however, was that people raising children ings indicate that spouses in middle-class
were more likely to be dissatisfied with marriages were more concerned with psy-
their marriages than people who never had chological and emotional interaction; while
children or whose children had left home the lower-class partners saw as more salient
regardless of age, race, or income level. in their lives financial problems and un-
The sample for this represents the entire stable physical actions of their partners.
population of a large metropolitan area This finding might be interpreted to mean
(Alameda County, California). The data that until the instrumental needs are met in
were obtained from an area probability marriage; the partners cannot be concerned
sample of 4,452 households-6,928 com- with the psychological and emotional as-
pleted mailed questionnaires supplied the pects.
information in personal interviews. Six Hawkins (1968) noted that marital satis-
questions were used to construct an Index factions are far from dependent on compan-
of Marital Satisfaction. Responses to these ship. He found the degree of overt hostil-
questions were analyzed with race, sex, ity more closely related to marital satis-
and age controlled. faction than companionship. When a mul-
In sum, research in the sixties has cor- tiple correlation coefficient was computed
roborated findings which were generally between companionship and hostility, view-
established at the beginning of the decade; ed as independent variables, and the Hus-
there is a positive relationship between bands' Marital Satisfaction scores, the r
marital happiness and higher occupational equals .72. When the same independent
statuses, incomes, and educational levels variables are related to the Wives' Marital
for husbands; there -is a positive relation- Satisfaction scores, the r equals .76. This
ship between husband and wife similarities leaves about half the variance in the hus-
in socioeconomic status, age, and religion; bands' scores unaccounted for and about
and there is a positive relationship between 40 percent of the variance in the wives
affectional rewards such as esteem for scores yet to be accounted for. He con-
spouse. The strongest, most compelling cluded from these findings (as we have
data emerging from research in the sixties from our review) that sociologists may well
have, however, added a new dimension to be amiss in not recognizing the critical
these accepted findings: the significance of importance of instrumental factors. This
the positive relationship between the in- sample consisted of 22 clinic couples and
strumental aspects of the male's role and 45 couples selected from census tracts in
marital happiness has been strongly dem- the community in such a way as to ap-
onstrated by research in this decade. proximate the socioeconomic status of the
The research relevant to the companion- clinic couples. Measures of current (with-
ship marriage seems more diffuse and adds in the last 4 weeks) marital satisfaction,
less to the sum of our knowledge. There is, companionship and hostility were obtained
however, some evidence of a positive re- from husband and wife working together
lationship between affective involvement to arrive at the "truth"in response to each
in marriage and happiness in marriage and item on his measuring instrument.
between open communication and hap- This raises the question of the relation-
piness in marriage. Perhaps the findings ship between marital happiness and stabil-
were limited because those things which ity. It has often been assumed in the past
comprise a companionship marriage are that the two norms of marriages (happiness
more abstract and less researchable than and stability) are interdependent-i.e., hap-
are those things which comprise an in- piness leads to stability and unhappiness
stitutional marriage; and perhaps because leads to instability. There is ample evidence
one can have a companionship marriage available that instability leads to unhap-
only when instrumental needs are fulfilled. piness, but data are emerging which sug-
Two studies suggest that this explanation gest that stability may not be as dependent
warrants attention. on happiness as has been assumed.

Cuber and Harroff (1963) found that happiness-low stability situations have long
stable marriages are not necessarily stable been the subject of interest among re-
because they are deeply satisfying ". . .[A] searchers; but little or no attention has been
'stable' married pair may on the one hand paid to the low happiness-high stability
be deeply fulfilled people, living vibrantly, situation. Since the low happiness-high
or at the other extreme entrapped, em- stability situation appears to be extremely
bittered, resentful people, living lives of common, and since Cuber and Harroff's
duplicity in an atmosphere of hatred and study, among others, has made it abundant-
despair" (1963:141). From their study of ly clear that the strength of the marital
heterosexual relationships of adult, upper bond can onlyvbe partially assessed by the
middle-class men and women between the variable of "marital happiness"; it would
ages of 35 and 55 who had been married seem to call for some empirical investiga-
at least ten years and who had never con- tion. Clearly what is necessary is a more
sidered divorce or separation and, "so far comprehensive typology of marriages which
as they knew, no one, including members permits predicting differentially for happy-
of the family thought of them as other than stable, unhappy-stable, and unhappy-un-
normal American families" (1963:139), stable marriages. Some progress has already
Cuber and Harroff developed a taxonomy been made in this area, notably by Levinger
of marriages composed of two basic types. (1965) and Scanzoni (1966).
The utilitarian, including the conflict habit- Levinger (1965) considers marriage as a
uated and the devitalized; and the intrinsic, special instance of social groups in general.
including the passive-congenial, the vital, He has postulated a thleory of marital co-
and the total. One of the most significant hesiveness in which "the strength of the
conclusions drawn from this study is that marital relationship is a direct function of
satisfaction with spouse, even in modem the attractions within and barriers around
America with its emphasis on personal hap- the marriage, and an inverse function of
piness, is not necessarily the sine qua non such attractions and barriers from other
of a stable marital relationship. Apparently, relationships" ( 1965:19).
there are other factors contributing to sta- Attractions, barriers, and sources of al-
bility in marriage. aternate attractions listed by Levinger
This study merits particular attention (1965) were those things that research had
from several points of view. First of all, one found to be positively or negatively as-
might suspect that Cuber and Harroff have sociated with durability in marriage. At
not really delineated two new basic types this point in time, according to Levinger
of marriages (the utilitarian and the in- (1965), his scheme of marital cohesiveness
trinsic) but rather they have given new is still in the elementary stage and subject
names to the two basic types (instrumental to certain limitations. First, the hypothetical
and companionship) which have long been conception of attractions and barriers that
recognized by social scientists. affect partners in marriage can rarely be
Secondly, their findings raise the very in- inferred directly from changes in overt
teresting question as to why married indices. Second, the basic conceptualiza-
couples who are disaffected with each tion of group cohesiveness is currently the
other remain married. They suggest that subject of critique and reformulation. Yet,
perhaps a lack of attractive alternatives to the scheme presents an overall framework,
the marriage plays a major role. The data, congruent with general theories about co-
just reviewed, add another possible ex- hesiveness in social groups and its concepts
planation. Even though there is a lack if are applicable to any given marriage in
affection and companionship, the instru- any society; regardless of socioeconomic
mental aspects of these specific marriages status, race, etc.
are all more than sufficiently met, there- Scanzoni (1966) explored the possibil-
fore, the marriage is satisfactory enough ity of building a conceptual framework
to remain intact. around the concepts of organization (in-
Finally, a whole new line of research cluding its differential states of system-
might be evolved from this study. Marital maintenance) and disorganization (system-
stability is apparently not necessarily con- dissolution) of the conjugal family (regard-
tingent upon happiness. The high happi- ed as a social system). He suggested five
ness-high stability situations; and the low different patterns of organized marriages,

each differing from one another in terms of panied by an increase in unfavorable per-
a combination of the five key variables: ceptions of the spouse. Eighty couples mar-
1) economic position; 2) social class back- ried an average of eight years, were given
ground and mobility; 3) self-esteem; 4) Locke's Marital Adjustment Scale, Terman's
husband-wife companionship; and 5) per- Self-Rating Happiness in Marriage, and the
ceived situational satisfaction in terms of Leary Interpersonal Check List. The re-
the probability of their dissolution.. sults showed that the longer a couple
were married, the more likely the subject
MARITAL HAPPINESS OVER TIME was to see his spouse as not well-thought-of
A recurrent criticism of research evaluat- by others, and to perceive less grateful-
ing marital happiness is that most frequent- ness, appreciation and willingness to ac-
ly it is measured only at one point in cept advice, on the part of the spouse. The
time, thus ignoring the dynamic nature of longer the couple were married, the less
the marital relationship. Prior to 1960, there favorable personality qualities each saw in
had been only a half dozen empirical in- his mate: this disillusionment was not as-
vestigations of marital happiness over time. sociated with self-perception. Subjects in
These studies were consistent in showing a happy marriages saw their spouses as less
decline in marital satisfaction; however, admirable than formerly, while those in
they were not sufficiently precise to describe unhappy marriages saw their spouses as
variations (if any) in a general decline; being more undesirable than formerly. This
nor differences (if any) between the de- is a subtle difference which suggests that
cline in satisfaction of husbands and wives; even though the happily married perceived
nor did they include the whole life cycle their mates, as less admirable, it does not
but only selected segments of it. A renewed imply that this perception was accompanied
interest in the concept of developmental by a decrease in marital happiness or dis-
adjustment in marriage has stimulated in- like for their mate. On the other hand, the
terest in the patterns of change in marital finding about the unhappily married does
satisfaction over the family life cycle. Sig- imply a decrease in marital unhappiness
nificant longitudinal research in this area and dislike for their mate.
has been completed in the last decade; and Blood and Wolfe (1960) in their Detroit
other research, although essentially cross- study found that for wives marital satis-
sectional and retrospective in nature, has faction ebbs with the passing decades. The
made important contributions to our knowl- decline in satisfaction begins after the
edge. children pass the infantile stage. They
analyzed only the general variable of satis-
Cross-sectional and Retrospective Research faction with marriage as a whole (Blood
In support of earlier findings, Mathews and Wolfe, 1960) and did not take into
and Milhanovich (1963) found no tend- account any of the more specific dimen-
ency for the number of marital problems sions of marital satisfaction.
to decrease with the length of time mar- Rollins and Feldman (1970) found that
ried. Nine hundred and eighty-four Catholic marital satisfaction of both husbands and
subjects answered a 400-item checklist on wives is associated with stages of the family
ten areas of tensions and took the Burgess- life cycle-though the variation is different
Wallin Scale to measure marital happiness. for the sexes. Subjects for the study were
The unhappy have more conflict than 799 couples obtained through the use of an
happy, and relatively few problems decline area survey sample of middle-class residents
in frequency or disappear for either group, of Syracuse, New York, and included sub-
but continue as irritants with which people jects in all stages of the life cycle. The data
learn to live. Specifically, the unhappy are on marital satisfaction were taken from
neglected, receive little affection, under- four questions dealing with general marital
standing, appreciation or companionship, satisfaction; negative feelings from inter-
their self-respect is attacked; their faults action with spouse; positive companionship
are magnified by their mates; they feel experiences with spouse; and satisfaction
worthless, belittled and falsely accused by with present stage of family life cycle (or
their spouses. previous stages). Both husband and wife
Luckey (1966) obtained evidence that reported there is a substantial decline from
increase in length of marriage is accom- the beginning or marriage to the "pre-

school" stage in the frequency of positive marital tensions. They found that marital
companionship experience, and then a tensions (Bradburn and Orden, 1969) de-
leveling off over the remainder of the crease over time, and especially when the
stages. Stimulating common activity in children leave home, with concomitant in-
marriage decreases from the very beginning creases in marital happiness.
with no recovery. Concerning satisfaction Gurin et al. (1980) found a curvilinear
with present stage of family life cycle, both trend with decreasing marital satisfaction
husband and wife rate highly the child- during the early stages, leveling off, and an
bearing and early childrearing phases and increase during later stages. The low point
are at a low point when launching the in marital satisfaction was found, in the
children from home. The husbands and study, to be close to the "empty nest" stage
wives were found to differ with respect to just before retirement. Comparison of this
their subjective feelings in the different trend with that found by Rollins and
stages. Husbands are less affected by stage Feldman (1970) or Burr (1970) is hazard-
in the family life cycle; wives, however, ous because Gurin et al. (1960) made no
have a decrease in general marital satis- separate analysis for males and females.
faction during the childbearing and child- Burr (1970) obtained evidence that the
rearing phase. Contrary to the implication school-age is found to be the most difficult
of some other studies which suggest a which is contrary to earlier findings. Satis-
linear decline over the whole life cycle, faction in relationships with children re-
this study found that both have a sub- mains low through adolescent years, but in
stantial increase in marital satisfaction most of the other areas the adolescent
through "the retirement' stage with an ap- years in this sample are the beginning of a
parent temporary setback just before the rising trend that usually lasts until retire-
husband retires. Several other studies also ment. Burr identified six specific areas of
support the conclusion that the postpar- marital experience: (1) the way finances
ental period may be as satisfying as earlier are handled, (2) the couple's social activ-
periods. Axelson (1960) obtained a sample ities, (3) the way the spouse performs his
of 199 fathers and 265 mothers and divided or her household tasks, (4) the companion-
them into two groups: those having single
children under 18 at home and those having ship in the marriage, (5) the sexual inter-
no children under 18 at home. Respondents action, and (6) the relationships with
children. The sample used was a random
were asked to indicate present satisfac-
tion levels in seven areas: concern for sample of 116 intact couples in a group of
census tracts that had been selected to
child's welfare; part in community activ- eliminate the lower socioeconomic strata.
ities; financial worries; loneliness, activities All of the age groups and stages of the fam-
with husband or wife satisfaction with mar-
ital adjustment; and interest in daily work. ily life cycle were represented and data
were gathered by means of a pre-arranged
The data showed that most of the satisfac- session in the subjects' homes during which
tion came from interpersonal relationships time each subject, individually, completed
and that financial worries, while not signifi- a rather lengthy questionnaire and was
cant before launching, decreased since the interviewed. Degree of satisfaction was
launched child was in high school. The hus- measured by the response to three questions
bands indicate similar positive changes. Al- in regard to each of the six areas of marital
though the women in the true postparental satisfaction and the data were analyzed
stage have significant increase in loneliness, separately for husbands and wives. Burr
the general conclusion is that "this period
of life seems as satisfying as earlier periods" (1970) found no systematic general decline,
but rather some abrupt changes in satis-
(1960:67). faction. The only tendency toward a grad-
Corroborating evidence that satisfaction ual trend was, in actuality, the tendency
does not decrease steadily over the family toward a gradual increase in satisfaction
life cycle comes from a study by Brad- in several areas after the school-age stage.
burn and Coplovitz (1965). From a prob-
ability sample of 2006 persons in four com- Longitudinal Research
munities in Illinois, they obtained data The initial findings of a gradual decrease
(393 interviews, 613 questionnaires) about in "happiness"was refined by Pineo (1961)
psychological well-being, happiness, and in his analysis of the 20-year follow-up of

the longitudinal study begun by Burgess on several items determined by the re-
and Wallin (1953). These couples were searchers.
studied first during engagement, again after In summary, these preliminary findings
four or five years of marriage, and a third on marital happiness over the life cycles,
time after twenty years of marriage. Pineo's suggests that there are significant differ-
(1961) data indicated that there was a ences in satisfaction at various times and
general decline in marital satisfaction and that husband's and wife's satisfaction does
adjustment, which he conceptualized as a not necessarily co-vary. Findings relative
process of disenchantment. He delineated to trend direction was confusing-most find-
satisfaction as a general term including such ings revealed a gradual decrease in satis-
phenomena as love, permanence, etc. The faction but other data indicated some
greatest decline was noted in the following abrupt changes as well as some increases
areas: companionship, demonstrations of af- over time. Further longitudinal research is
fection, common interests, consensus, belief needed to construct any valid develop-
in the permanence of the union and marital mental theory of marital happiness.
adjustment scores. He suggested that disen-
chantment occurred sooner in marriage for STABILITY
husbands than for wives. His findings are Research related to marital stability has
somewhat weakened by the fact that he did concentrated on statistical analysis of
not study the whole life cycle-but rather divorce and desertion data drawn from
at only these three specified points in the census reports, and on those variables
cycle. which seem to differentiate between the
Dentler and Pineo (1960) found in divorced (and/or separated) and the non-
another analysis of these data, that the divorced person. Few sociological findings,
development of disenchantment in marriage in 1960, were better established than those
was a common experience for only about 20 indicating that marriage tends to be more
percent of the husbands. stable among the well-educated, well-paid,
Additional longitudinal evidence that white-collar workers than among the poor-
satisfaction with marriage decreased over ly paid, blue-collar workers and also that
time comes from Paris and Luckey (1966). it tends to be more stable among white
They tested 31 satisfied and 31 unsatisfied men than among those in the non-white
couples (Luckey, 1961) on Locke's Marital population. It was also generally accepted
Adjustment and Terman's Self-Rating Scale that more divorces occurred in the third
in 1957 and again in 1963 to determine year of marriage than any other-after the
change in marital satisfaction over time. third year, the divorce rate dropped steadily
They found that satisfied couples tended through the seventh year.
to decrease and unsatisfied couples to in-
crease in satisfaction over time; but that in Census Data
general the trend was to decrease, the Census data continued to be utilized as
wives more so than the husbands. resource material for the statistical relating
Clark and Wallin (1965) in a longitudin- of relevant variables to divorce. In general,
al study focusing on the sexual component these data support already well established
found that women who have mutual love principles although some contradictory find-
and respect relationship with their hus- ings are reported. The probabilities for
bands tend to be relatively high on re- achieving stable marriages are greater for
sponsiveness and become more responsive whites than non-whites: Bernard (1960),
with increased coital experience, while wo- Cowhig (1965), Udry (1967), and Bauman
men whose marriages are persistently nega- (1967). In general, as income, schooling,
tive in quality tend to remain relatively low and job level rise, the difference between
on responsiveness. Their subjects were 1000 the races has been observed to decline
engaged couples (primarily urban, white (Bernard, 1960). On the other hand, Udry
and highly educated). They restudied 602 (1937) using later data and different sta-
of them after three or four years of mar- tistical techniques, reports that the ratio of
riage and 428 of them after 17 to 20 years non-white to white marital instability grows
of marriage. Sexual responsiveness was consistently with increasing income. How-
measured by frequency of orgasm, and ever, he also found that higher educational
quality of marriage by general satisfaction statuses had lower disruption rates and that

this was true for males, females, whites, and church group were matched as to age, num-
non-whites. The lowest marital stability was ber of years married, etc. The couples
in the lowest status occupations for men, ranked a series of behaviors along a dimen-
and the highest stability in the high status sion of upset both to themselves and to
occupations. His data on females were in- their spouses. The scale was divided into
complete; but, it was noted by Bauman six general areas of interaction: affection,
(1967) that females have greater marital communication, finances, responsibility, sex
instability than do males. A new finding, and understanding. The author suggests
reported by both Bernard (1960) and Bau- that perhaps it is not awareness of the
man (1967), was that school drop-outs have effects of behavior that discriminates be-
a lower probability of achieving marital tween the stable and the unstable, but
stability than do completers-no matter at rather a willingness to change behavior.
what level they drop out. Not unsurprisingly, lack of concern for
the spouse may characterize unstable mar-
Other Research
riages. Levinger (1965b) found couples
Mercer (1967) found significantly more displaying extreme patterns of marital dis-
intact families among white than non- ruption showed a larger incidence of items
whites; significantly more "alone" families on which neither partner chooses the al-
intact than extended families and signifi- truistic action. The study consisted of 29
~cantly more town families stable than trouble-free couples (parents of an ele-
country families. IHeused a random sample mentary school child); 18 couples receiving
of households in North Carolina: 2219 fam- counseling; and 40 couples applying for
ily units were classified as to stability (in- divorce were given the Buerkle-Badgley
tact-broken marriage), living arrangement Marital Interaction Battery. Couples ranked
(alone-extended family) and race (white- a series of specific behavior along a dimen-
non-white). The households were classified sion of upset both to themselves and to
as to size of place (open-country-town- their spouses. The scale was divided into
metropolis) in which the households were six general areas of interaction: affection,
located. communication, finance, responsibility, sex
The theme that interpersonal and inter- and understanding.
actional variables are significant to marital Corroboration for previous findings that
stability is a prevalent one. Research has age at marriage is related to divorce comes
often directed itself to the effort to cor- from a study by Landis (1963). He found
relate particular personality variables to that men who had married at 21 and under
marital stability. Cattell and Nesselroade and women who had carried at 19 and
(1967) correlated three principles of per- under tended to end an unhappy marriage
sonality (likeness, complimentary needs through divorce more than those who mar-
and characteristics, and dynamic adjust- ried later. Men who married over thirty
ment) with instability. The subjects were tended to stay married even though un-
102 stable couples and 37 unstable couples happy. Of particular interest here is the
(separated or in counseling) and the in- fact that Landis was not concerned with
strument was a 16 Personality Factor divorce in general; but rather with the
Questionnaire. They found that instability social variables that related to terminating
was associated with large differences in an unhappy marriage with divorce as op-
outgoingness, enthusiasm, sensitivity, and posed to remaining married though un-
drive. Stability was facilitated by differ- happy. He also found supporting evidence
ences in dominance and guilt-proneness, for the facts that persons whose marriages
and likeness in intelligence, emotional included higher occupation status, higher
stability, enthusiasm, conscience, social level of education, the wife worked, or
boldness and imagination. there was a less devout religious feeling,
Contrary to the popular belief that there tended to end unhappy marriages by di-
is a greater awareness and sensitivity to vorce.
the spouse's behavior in stable marriages, Divorce court proceedings give support
Clements (1967) found that both stable to the nations that "traditional" marriages
and unstable couples were aware of the are more successful. Scanzoni (1968)
effects of specific behaviors on their spouse. studied 160 existing marriages (54 upper
Forty married couples in a Protestant middle-class; 58 lower middle-class; 48

manuallabor) in a large metropolitanarea Monahanalso observed that durationof
and 110 persons from dissolved marriages, marriageto separationvaries from area to
from divorce court proceedings,by means area, from time to time, and from one
of interviews.He found that existing mar- population class to another. It was found
riages were characterizedby convergence that couples have longer durationsof mar-
over expectationsand rewardspertainingto riages to separationwhen it is the firstmar-
occupationalbehaviorof both husbandand riage, they have children, are in a higher
wife; similar social class backgroundsand socioeconomicoccupation and live in less
education levels; mutual significantothers; metropolitan but middle-sized population
and lower levels of conflict and greater areas.
compromise;and that dissolved marriages His data support earlier researchin that
were characterizedby divergence in these durationof marriageto divorce varies over
areas. time , with age at marriage,type of cere-
Findings from the study by Levinger mony, prior marital condition, premarital
(1966) examining causes of marital dis- pregnancy, race or ethnic background,re-
satisfactionwere that husbands and wives ligion, and to some extent with education,
differ in the basis of their marital satis- occupation, mobility, and other character-
faction, and socioeconomicclasses differ in istics.
the basis of their marital satisfaction.The Analyses of variationsin divorce rate by
findings indicate that lower-class wives Pinard (1966) suggested that marriageand
were considerablymore likely than middle- divorce decisionshave become increasingly
status wives to complain about financial affected by common causes located out-
problems, physical abuse and drinking. side the micro-worldof the family system.
Middle-class husbands paralleled their He obtained evidence linking increases in
wives in their significantlygreater concern marriageand divorce to (1) an increased
with lack of love, on the other hand, they interconnectednessof the regions of the
were significantly less likely than lower- country, and (2) an increased sensitivity
class husbands to complain of their wives of marriage and divorce decisions to a
infidelity. macro-socioeconomicdecision. These two
In a majorstudy dealing with the prob- generalizationswere tentatively interpreted
lems of duration of marriage to divorce, as the result of the process of urbanization
Monahan (1962) analyzed all the divorces and industrialization. Theoretically, the
in the state of Wisconsin, and also traced process of urbanizationand industrializa-
changes in length of time to separation tion has increased the freedom of the in-
and divorce from the middle 1800's.As in dividual-but Pinard(1966) concludesfrom
earlier research, he found the maximum this analysis that even though the in-
number of separationsto occur during the dividual'sdecisions may be more free from
first year of marriagesand the maximum the small social systems in which he lives,
number of divorces to occur within the they have become more dependent on
firstthree years. Using the arithmeticmean, those of the larger social system-the cen-
rather than the median, as the average he ter from which the constraints come has
found that the interval to separationmay been and is still changing.
have increasedover the years from7.7 years
in 1887-1906to 8.4 years in 1957. By con- DISCUSSION
trast, the interval from separation to di- Findingsfromresearchin the last decade,
vorces appears to have shortened slightly, concerned with maritalhappiness and sta-
from 2.7 years in 1887-1906to 1.3 years in bility suggest that the time has come for a
1957. majorshift in researchemphases.Research
He suggests that to be able to know studies which have continued to focus on
whether marriagesare breakingup sooner, those isolated variables thought to be re-
or, in fact, to be able to determineprecise- lated to marital happiness have confirmed
ly whether the divorce rate as a whole is what was already established: higher oc-
rising or falling off one should know the cupational statuses, incomes, and educa-
duration-specificdivorce rates. Since data tional levels for husbands; husband-wife
relevant to this is practicallynon-existent, similarities such as socioeconomic status,
a more cautious interpretationof available age, and religion, affectionalrewards,such
divorce statisticsis needed. as esteem for spouse, sexual enjoyment,
568 JOURNALOF MARRIAGEAND THE FAMILY November 1970

companionship and age at marriage are all ephemeral goal for much of the population.
variables which correlate positively with Certainly, it is time to discard the omni-
marital happiness and durability. The data bus term "marital happiness" for research
continued to supply evidence that marriages purposes. It does not have the virtues of
of non-white persons were both less happy power and simplicity which commend var-
and less stable than marriages of white iables to social researchers.
persons. These observations have also all To future research workers in the field
been further confirmed by divorce data we suggest breaking away from the reliance
obtained in the sixties. The concept that on self-report. In the past, subjects state-
"duration to separation" is a more signifi- ments have been taken at face value-this
cant variable that "duration to divorce" naive acceptance of self-report secms to
suggests new ways of interpreting divorce ignore the powerful distortions effected by
statistics and data; and, of course, under- the need to meet society's expectations with
scores the unassessed amount of inaccuracy regard to happiness in marriage. As an al-
in previous interpretations of these data. ternative, if self-report must be used to
Additionally, the idea that marriage and collect data, concepts which have value
divorce decisions are influenced by the connotations such as "success" or "happi-
macro-social system is one that confirms ness" might best be discarded.
impressions that stability in marriage is a Two significant research directions are
function of variety of factors-only one of
discernable, and preliminary research in
which is marital happiness. these directions has already been under-
Examination of data obtained in this taken. First, more empirical research over
decade do permit some expansion of pre- the life span is needed to elaborate and
viously accepted findings and a new per- describe changes which take place in the
spective on happiness and stability. The marital relationship. Current data are
essence of the results suggests that the in- neither overwhelming nor consistent. Long-
strumental role of the husband is more itudinal research might permit the con-
crucial to marital happiness than social struction of models of marital reality over
scientists have previously believed. It may time. This kind of research requires con-
be even more critical than any other single struction of specific, precise measurements
variable. It would seem that marriages are in order to provide the kind of descriptive
either essentially utilitarian in nature or the data necessary to construct comprehensive
transition to the companionship (intrinsic) theoretical frameworks.
marriage is not yet complete-or maybe not Second, the low happiness-high stabil-
even possible.
ity dimension of marriage demands re-
Perhaps the single most surprising find- search attention. Until very recently it has
ing to emerge from research is that children been an area of research that has been
tend to detract from, rather than contribute almost entirely overlooked, and the pinning
to, marital happiness. And perhaps the down of the dynamics of this situation is
single most provocative finding is that low imperative if one is to understand either
happiness may often be associated with marital stability or marriage in general.
marital stability. Current data indicate clearly that the fac-
Since marital happiness has been thought tors which make a marriage brittle or dur-
to be an important component in marital able are infinitely more complicated than
success, social scientists have assumed that
it is their responsibility to discover the just "being happy."
situational or dispositional factors that con-
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cycle." Journal of Marriage and the 1960 "Interfaith marriages." Religious Educa-
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November 1970 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGEAND THE FAMILY 573

Whitehurst, Robert N. Winch, Robert F. ,and Scott A. Greer.
1968 "Premarital reference-group orientations 1964 "The uncertain relation between early
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397-401. 83-97.
ANNOUNCING
REVIEW
INTERNATIONAL &
OFSOCIOLOGY
OFSOCIOLOGY
JOURNAL
INTERNATIONAL OFTHEFAMILY
The JOURNALSwelcome articles of a theoretical and empirical nature, student research
papers of professional quality, book reviews, letters to the editor, commentsand rejoinders,an-
notated bibliographies,news, and announcements.
The main objective of the INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGYand the INTERNA-
TIONALJOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYOF THEFAMILY is to advance sociological knowledge in
the field of general sociology and marriage and the family throughoutthe world. The JOUR-
NALS, in particular, are devoted to encourage cross-national and cross-culturalresearch and
exchange of informationconcerning significantdevelopmentsin general sociology and sociology
of tie family
The JOURNALSare published in Englishtwice a year in March and September;tmorefre-
quent publication is planned in subsequent years. There will also be some SPECIAL ISSUESon
particulartopics. MANUSCRIPTS should be submittedin duplicate and in acceptable form. STYLE
INSTRUCTIONS for guidance in preparing manuscriptswill be provided upon request to the
EDITOR. MANUSCRIPTS SHOULDBEADDRESSED TO:
DR. MAN SINGH DAS, Editor

Department of Sociology
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, Illinois 60115, U.S.A.


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Marital Happiness and Stability: A Review of the Research in the Sixties

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