Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA.
J Fam Psychol. 2012 Feb;26(1):1-10. doi: 10.1037/a0025966. Epub 2011 Oct 31.
Although divorce typically follows an extended period of unhappiness that begins early in marriage, some couples who are very happy throughout the first several years of marriage will also go on to divorce. This study aimed to identify risk factors early in marriage that distinguish initially satisfied couples who eventually divorce from those who remain married. We identified 136 couples reporting stably high levels of relationship satisfaction in the first 4 years of marriage. We compared the couples who went on to divorce by the 10-year follow-up with the couples who remained married on initial measures of commitment, observed communication, stress, and personality. Divorcing couples displayed more negative communication, emotion, and social support as newlyweds compared with couples who did not divorce. No significant differences were found in the other domains, in relationship satisfaction, or in positive behaviors. Overall, results indicate that even couples who are very successful at navigating the early years of marriage can be vulnerable to later dissolution if their interpersonal exchanges are poorly regulated. We speculate that, paradoxically, the many strengths possessed by these couples may mask their potent interpersonal liabilities, posing challenges for educational interventions designed to help these couples.
虽然离婚通常是在婚姻早期开始的一段长时间不幸福之后发生的，但也有一些在婚姻头几年非常幸福的夫妻最终还是会离婚。本研究旨在确定婚姻早期的风险因素，这些因素将最初满意但最终离婚的夫妻与那些仍然已婚的夫妻区分开来。我们确定了 136 对在婚姻的头 4 年报告稳定高水平关系满意度的夫妇。我们将在 10 年随访中离婚的夫妇与在初始承诺、观察沟通、压力和个性方面仍然已婚的夫妇进行了比较。与没有离婚的夫妇相比，新婚的离婚夫妇在沟通、情绪和社会支持方面表现出更多的负面反应。在其他领域、关系满意度或积极行为方面没有发现显著差异。总的来说，研究结果表明，即使是在婚姻早期非常成功地度过的夫妻，如果他们的人际交流得不到很好的调节，也可能容易在以后离婚。我们推测，具有讽刺意味的是，这些夫妻拥有的许多优势可能掩盖了他们潜在的人际责任，这对旨在帮助这些夫妻的教育干预措施构成了挑战。
