Marital Satisfaction

I have read this many times in classes and in research studies, so I think it must be a pretty well established pattern: "Marital satisfaction appears to follow a curvilinear path over the course of marriage, starting high, dropping sharply after the birth of children, reaching an all-time low when children are adolescents, and then increasing as children leave home and couples retire." (Carstensen & Gottman, 1993)  I think it's an interesting pattern.  If you are in the child rearing years, this might give you something to look forward to.  If you're about to start a family, or your kids are reaching adolescence, brace yourselves!  The waters of marital bliss might be about to get a little choppy.  :)  The good thing to note is that you don't have to be a statistic.  Knowing the pattern can help couples prepare for stressful time periods by strengthening their marriage, and keeping the lines of communication open.  Remember that your happiness is always your choice--in marriage, and in life.  Want to be happy?  Choose to be happy!  Simple (but not always easy) choice, huh?  

Interesting.

One research study we recently talked about in my Aging class indicated that women differ from men in their sources of marital satisfaction. Equity in the division of labor and strong emotional support are highly linked to marital satisfaction for women, but not for men. Interesting, huh? We can't assume that our spouse values the same things we do in marriage. To me, this reinforces the need for constant open communication between spouses. Let's not assume they know what we want or how we feel--because they probably don't! (: