Abstract
Previous research indicated that similarities and differences in specific personality factors are associated with differences in marital stability. Most findings were based on assessments of personality after marriage, thus confounding the effects of marriage on personality. The findings reported here relate congruence between spouses’ personality assessed prior to marriage with the status of the marriage three to five years after marriage. Each partner in a group of 72 teenage couples completed the 16PF prior to obtaining approval to marry. These data were examined using intraclass and multivariate analyses. The findings indicate that hypothesized patterns of personality factors differentiated stable from unstable marriages.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bahr, S., Chappell, C., & Leigh, G. (1983). Age at marriage, role enactment, role consensus, and marital satisfaction.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 44, 795–803.
Banta, T., & Hetherington, M. (1963). Relations between needs of friends and fiances.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66, 401–404.
Boothe, A., & Edwards, J. (1985). Age at marriage and marital stability.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47, 67–75.
Bumpass, L., & Sweet, J. (1985). Differentials in marital instability: 1970.American Sociological Review, 37, 754–766.
Burchinal, L. (1965). Adolescent role deprivation and high school age marriage.Marriage and Family Living, 21, 378–384.
Bureau of the Census. (1986).Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1985. Washington, DC: Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
Cattell, R., Eber, H., & Tatsuoka, M. (1970).Handbook of the 16PF Questionnaire. Champaign, IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing.
Cattell, R., & Nesselroade, J. (1967). Likeness and completeness theories examined by sixteen personality factor measures on stably and unstably married couples.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 7, 351–361.
Current Population Reports. (1984).Social and economic variations in marriage, divorce, and remarriage, 1982 (Series P-20, No. 223). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Glenn, N., & Supanicic, M. (1984). The social and demographic correlates of divorce and separation in the US: An update and recommendation.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46, 563–576.
Katz, I., Glucksberg, S., & Krauss, R. (1960). Need satisfaction and Edwards PPS scores in married couples.Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, 205–208.
Kitson, G., Barbi, K., & Roach, M. (1985). Who divorces and why: A review.Journal of Family Issues, 6, 255–293.
Lacey, D. (1984). Personality differences and marital satisfaction (Doctoral dissertation, Texas Women’s University, 1984).Dissertation Abstracts International, 45, 1541A.
Terman, L., & Oden, M. (1947).The gifted child grows up: Twenty-five year follow-up of a superior group. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
United Nations Publishing Service. (1983).Demographic Yearbook, 1981. New York: Author.
Winch, R. (1955). The theory of complementary needs in mate selection: A test of one kind of complementariness.American Sociological Review, 20, 52–56.
Willerman, L. (1979).The psychology of individual and group differences. San Francisco, CA: Freeman.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Levine, K.S., Hennessy, J.J. Personality influences in the stability of early (teen-age) marriage in the United States. Current Psychology 9, 296–303 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686867
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686867