Marriage, Transition To

Theoretical Models

Several models have been developed to explain distress and divorce during the early years of marriage. The disillusionment model contends that as new marriages progress, spouses become disillusioned by the discontinuity between their idealized expectations before marriage and the actuality of their marital experiences. Before marriage, individuals may actively avoid conflict with their partners, manage impressions of themselves, and view their partners in the best possible light. During the early years of marriage, partners typically perceive a loss of love and affection, experience increased ambivalence about their relationships, and begin to view their partners and relationships in less positive lights. Some empirical evidence supports the disillusionment model because couples who divorce early in their marriage are more ambivalent about their marriages, report falling out of love at higher rates, and perceive their partners as less responsive to their needs.

Most researchers find that in happily married couples, a general decline in marital satisfaction occurs naturally. Therefore, some researchers have argued that disillusionment is an inevitable process as couples begin the transition from dating to new-lywed marriage to early marriage, and therefore [Page 1053]cannot be a useful explanatory model because it occurs for distressed as well as happily married couples. The enduring dynamics model, in contrast, postulates that couples enter into marriage with at least some knowledge of the shortcomings of the relationship and their partner. Relationship distress, therefore, arises from interpersonal processes that are already present during courtship and that endure into marriage. This model suggests that differences between partners that are present while the couple is dating erode marital satisfaction over time and may contribute to eventual divorce. Some data support this model because the intensity of newlywed romance and negativity assessed at marriage predicts marital satisfaction 13 years later as well as, for couples who divorced, the length of time married before divorce.

Finally, the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation Model is an integrated model of marital processes that contends that marital quality is a function of enduring vulnerabilities that the partners bring to the marriage (e.g., attachment style, personality traits, etc.), stressful events experienced by the couple (e.g., relocation, starting a new job, having children, etc.), and the adaptive processes (e.g., social support, positive affective expressions, problem solving, etc.) couples use to contend with vulnerabilities and stressors. Considerable research has supported this model as a useful one in examining marital qualities, particularly marital problem solving, that likely moderate the effect of life events on spousal functioning. A strength of this more comprehensive model is that it reflects the diverse individual, relational, and external variables that contribute to marital quality and stability.

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