Cohabitation And Marriage Essay

For many people there is a strong desire to fall in love and ultimately get married. Research has shown that there are real benefits that come from marriage. For instance, being married reduces the likelihood of suffering from psychological illnesses, makes people healthier and happier on average, and has real benefits for both sexes, although it is argued to be more beneficial for men (Wilson & Oswald, 2005). Despite the benefits of marriage, maintaining one’s marriage can be difficult as there are many factors that are correlated with reduced marital satisfaction and marital quality. It is important to explore these factors in order to identify and improve upon such issues with the goal of increasing overall marital quality and satisfaction. …show more content…
(Hardie & Lucas, 2010) Economic factors can create conflict and stress in relationships and are therefore influential in relationship quality for married couples. Hardie and Lucas (2010) examined the possibility of a correlation between economic resources and relationship quality among young married and cohabiting partner relationships. They hypothesized that economic resources directly affect relationship quality in terms of levels of affection and conflict. Hardie and Lucas (2010) used data from two studies: a sample of 1,625 cohabiting partners and 1,216 married partners from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth and a sample of 838 cohabiting partners and 864 married partners from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Each study used self-assessed scales in order to measure levels of affection and conflict in the relationship with their partner. Controlling for extraneous variables, they then compared these results with several economic factors: poverty-line adjusted family earnings, which was based on each respondent’s and their partner’s yearly earnings, family support, government assistance, hardship, and college attendance. The results demonstrated that economic factors played a key role in relationship quality and satisfaction for cohabiting and married couples. Poor economic standing was especially associated with increased conflict, greatly reducing relationship quality. This study shows how influential economic factors …show more content…
(Hirschberger, Srivastava, Marsh, Cowan, & Cowan, 2009). Parenthood also has a strong influence on marital satisfaction. Hirschberger, Srivastava, Marsh, Cowan, and Cowan (2009) examined the effects of having children on marital satisfaction over the course of 15 years and looked at what factors predict long-term marital success. They hypothesized that martial satisfaction will decrease over time and that greater attachment security will help to resist against declines in satisfaction. Hirschberger, Srivastava, Marsh, Cowan, and Cowan (2009) followed a set of 81 couples from their first pregnancy for 5.5 years and a set of 96 couples from the point that their first child was transitioning to elementary school (M = 4.5 years old) until they were entering high school (M = 14.5 years old). Both samples were largely middle-class caucasian families with a fairly even distribution of male and female children. Each parent was made to complete an interview and a set of questionnaires at each point of data collection, focusing on assessing their level of marital satisfaction as well as their level of attachment security. In accordance with their hypotheses, Hirschberger, Srivastava, Marsh, Cowan, and Cowan (2009) found that both husbands and wives experienced declines in marital satisfaction while individuals with greater attachment security reported higher levels of marital satisfaction. Husbands’ marital satisfaction levels at the time of their first child’s transition