The influence of marital duration on the use of relationship maintenance behaviors

This paper presents a study of the use of relationship maintenance behaviors—behaviors that function to preserve ongoing relationships—in marriages of varying durations. Data collected from 143 married couples revealed that the use of maintenance behaviors generally followed a curvilinear pattern in which maintenance behaviors were used most frequently in the early years of marriage, dropped during the middle years, and rebounded in more long‐term marriages. Results also indicated that the length of the marital relationship did not moderate the strength of relationship between the use of maintenance behaviors and perceptions of marital quality. Thus, it appears that even though the use of maintenance behaviors varies over the course of marriage, their utilization remains important in fostering continued positive perceptions of the marriage.