The Fractured Conjugal Family

Abstract

This study compared 20 married dyads and 20 divorced dyads on the dimensions of affect, marital adjustment, personality homogamy, value homogamy, and selected demographic variables. Instruments used in this investigation included the Caring Relationship Inventory, the Modified Form of Locke's Marital Questionnaire, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. and the Rokeach Value Survey. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance were used in order to determine which variables differed as a function of marital status. It was found that married and divorced dyads differed significantly on affect, marital adjustment, and selected demographic variables. Divorced dyads were characterized by greater affect dissatisfaction in affection, friendship, eros, empathy, self-love, and "being" love. Divorced dyads also reported lower levels of marital adjustment, greater parental marital unhappiness, a greater incidence of parental marital dissolution, a greater frequency of female employment, and less inclination to attend or be affiliated with a church.