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Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 25, No. 4, 465-495 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X03257766

Does Long-Term Marriage Bring Less Frequent Disagreements?

Five Explanatory Frameworks

Laurie Russell Hatch

University of Kentucky

Kris Bulcroft

Western Washington University

Studies of marital conflict have concluded that the frequency of disagreements between spouses declines over time in a marital relationship. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the National Survey of Families and Households, the authors examine the frequency of marital disagreements concerning household tasks, money, sex, and spending time together reported by married women and men age 20 to 79. The study results refute a developmental explanation for marital disagreement, which posits that disagreements decline as marital partners accommodate themselves to one another over time. The results indicate, however, that increased marital duration may bring increased marital disagreements, depending on family life course stage (particularly, the presence of children in the home), and potentially also depending on spouses’ages and birth cohorts. The results also suggest a limited role of selective attrition in explaining the frequency of marital disagreements, in that couples who disagree more frequently are more likely to divorce or separate, particularly respondents of younger ages/birth cohorts, who have been married for relatively briefer periods of time.

Key Words: marriage • marital conflict • family life course • cohort • aging • longitudinal


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