PREDICTING MARITAL DISSOLUTION - A 5-YEAR PROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF NEWLYWED COUPLES

This study examined how well marital dissolution was predicted by husbands' and wives' personal demographic scores, couple demographic scores, husbands and wives' individual-differences scores, husbands' and wives' interdependence scores, and the size of the discrepancy between spouses' individual-differences scores as well as their interdependence scores. Over 5 annual assessments, 222 newlywed couples remained together and 64 dissolved their marriages. Variables from each of the 4 sets of scores reliably discriminated between stable and unstable couples. For a subsample of couples on whom multiple assessments were available. husbands and wives who would dissolve their marriage showed a greater decline in interdependence scores and had greater increases in discrepancies on interdependence variables than did husbands and wives from stable couples who were assessed at comparable times. Marital dissolution is discussed in terms of interrelated distal and proximal risk factors.