Developmental Trajectories of Marital Happiness Over 16 Years

Abstract

Longitudinal studies often conclude that marital happiness declines over time. The present study examined marital happiness trajectories over the first 16 years of marriage and implications of trajectories for divorce. Participants included 373 (174 White, 199 Black) couples who first participated in 1986 and were re-interviewed years 2, 3, 4, 7, and 16. Analyses revealed that husbands and wives fit into distinct marital happiness trajectory groups characterized with either high stable marital happiness over time or moderate to low happiness that declined over time. Trajectories significantly predicted divorce. Findings support the enduring dynamics and gradual disillusionment models of marital development.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The first author is funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (K99/R00 AG029879). The research in this article was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD40778) to the fourth author. The authors would like to thank the life course development program for helpful comments on previous drafts of this manuscript. A prior version of this article was presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Boston, MA.