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Newlyweds

Newlyweds are recently married couples, and newlywed research generally focuses on the first 2 to 4 years of marriage. This early stage of marriage is one of transition, requiring adjustment to being a committed couple, negotiation of new roles, and development of an intimate foundation for the future. About 50 percent of first marriages in the United States are expected to end in divorce, and the divorce rate peaks within the first 4 to 5 years of marriage. Thus, young marriages are at risk for distress and divorce within the first 5 years, and the seeds for later negative outcomes appear early in the newlywed stage.

This entry describes characteristics of newly-weds, common problems and challenges that new-lyweds face, and factors that predict changes in satisfaction. Although an emerging literature focuses on marriage in non-Western countries, this entry focuses on couples from North America. In some U.S. states, Canada, and many other countries, marriage between same-sex partners is legally sanctioned, but almost all research on newlyweds is concerned with heterosexual unions. Thus, this entry focuses on heterosexual newlywed couples.

Characteristics of Newlywed Couples

Marriage rates have been steadily declining since the early 1970s, and the rate of cohabitation as a first conjugal union has been increasing. Despite declines in marriage rates, more than half of all men and women are married, and about 80 to 90 percent of people are expected to marry at some point in their lives. Newlywed couples are engaged for an average of 9 months and over half cohabit before marriage. About one third of new-lywed couples receive premarital counseling, which is overwhelmingly church-based. Marriage is common in all cultures and ethnic groups in the United States, and marriage rates are similar for Caucasian, Hispanic, and Asians. African Americans are less likely to marry, and do so at an older age than do couples from other racial groups. Overall, couples are delaying the decision to marry and the average age at marriage has steadily increased; the average age at marriage in the United States is 25.5 years for women and 27 years for men.

Marital Satisfaction in Newlyweds

Newlyweds are almost universally happy in their relationship and experience high levels of love and commitment that are relatively stable during the first year of marriage. However, satisfaction and affection then steadily decline for most, although not all, couples. Much of the research on newly-wed marriage focuses on understanding predictors of the erosion of loving feelings, which can be grouped into four classes of variables: static historical and sociodemographic factors, enduring personal dispositions, external stresses and strains, and dyadic interaction processes.

Historical and Sociodemographic Predictors

Relatively static factors such as history of parental divorce, difficult family-of-origin experiences, marrying at a younger age, a shorter dating period, and cohabiting before marriage are associated with negative marital outcomes. Some researchers argue that cohabitation is associated with less religiosity and more permissive attitudes, which are likely to be associated with seeing divorce as a viable option, thus, it is not cohabitation per se that leads to less stable marriages. Others have noted that the timing of cohabitation and level of commitment when cohabitation decisions are made matters. Couples who cohabit after becoming engaged do not seem to experience the same increase in risk for divorce as do couples who live together before becoming engaged.

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