Predictive validity of coping strategies on marital satisfaction: Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence

The present study investigated the contribution of coping strategies, when facing marital difficulties, to marital satisfaction, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. For the cross-sectional design, both members of 506 couples individually completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results revealed that self-reported coping strategies were significant-linear and curvilinear-predictors of both self-and partner-reported marital satisfaction. Results of the longitudinal analyses were based on 2 distinct samples: 95 couples who completed the same questionnaires 4 months later (short-term cohort) and 108 couples who again completed the same questionnaires 1.5 years later (long-term cohort). Significant, but weak, curvilinear relations between coping strategies and subsequent marital satisfaction were observed for women.