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 Project Title: Extending the Study of Early Years of Marriage
 Principal Investigator: Terri Orbuch
 Co-Investigators: Joseph Veroff

 

Contact Person and Information:
Dr. Terri Orbuch,
Orbuch@Umich.edu
5104 ISR; 763-4993

 

 STUDY AIMS:
The study is designed to delineate processes that underlie marital stability and well-being in the early years of marriage in a representative sample of white and African American couples. Hypotheses investigated cover the importance of balance between individual and relational gratification, the need for integrating work and family lives, and tendency for couples to reconstruct the memory of their relationship. Particularly critical are ways that phenomena operate differently for white and African American couples.
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INITIAL SAMPLE:
Selection criteria:
Initial selection: couples registered for marriage licenses in Wayne County, Michigan, April-Jun 1986; first marriage; not interracial; wife 35 or younger. In subsequent waves, only those still married were included.
 Sample characteristics:

Gender:

 Both husbands and wives

Ethnicity:

 53% African American, 47% White

Socioeconomic Status:

 Heterogeneous

COMPLETED WAVES:

 Wave

 Age of Subjects
   N:

1
 Variable (1st yr of marriage) 373 couple

2
 2nd yr of marriage 341

3
 3rd yr of marriage 280

4

4th yr of marriage
 238

5

7th yr of marriage
 171

 6
 14th yr of marriage 80% of Original Sample (71% of original African American sample; 90% of original White sample)

(divorced couples are not in the sample until Wave 6; by Wave 5, 27% of original sample were divorced)
Currently Funded Waves: Wave 6 funding until 12/31/01.
Currently Planned Waves:

7
 Interview divorced couples and couples still married
in 16th of marriage. Applied for NIH funding. Funds would begin 1/02/02.

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES:
Young Adulthood
Middle Adulthood		    

MEASURES    
Personal:
  Personality: Individual personality
   Symptoms and Syndromes: General well-being
Social
  Family: Marital stability
Marital well-being
Happiness
Control
Competence
Equity
Couple similarity
Style of interaction
Closeness with family
Styles and contents of narrative of relationship
Conflict management
Compatibility in orientation
Traditionality in roles
Sexual Interaction
Division of household labor

 

REPRESENTATIVE FINDINGS:
Marital stability and well-being are dependent on different factors in African American and white couples. African American stability is dependent more on structural issues (e.g., economic security, traditionality in role arrangements) and white stability more on interpersonal styles. The way couples reconstruct their lives in narratives has connection to their marital outcomes. The most important factor in understanding marital well-being is how affectively affirmed individuals feel in their relationship. Factors that predict divorce in Year 14 vary by race
and whether the interaction is being reported on by the wife or husband.

 

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS:

Orbuch, T.L., Veroff, J., & Hunter, A. (1999). Black couples, white couples: The early years of marriage. In E. Mavis Hetherington (Ed.), Coping with Divorce, Single-Parenting and Remarriage (pp. 23-46). Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum.

Orbuch, T.L., & Eyster, S.L. (1997). Division of household labor among black couples and white couples. Social Forces, 76, 301-332.

Orbuch, T.L., Veroff, J., Hassan, H., & Horrocks, J. (forthcoming). Who will divorce: A 14-year longitudinal study of Black couples and White couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Timmer, S.G., & Orbuch, T.L. (2001). The links between premarital parenthood, meanings of marriage and marital outcomes. Family Relations, 50(2), 178-185.