15 - On the Etiology of Marital Decay and Its Consequences: Comments from a Clinical Psychologist

Summary

Every researcher in our field should buy and study this book. It is a compendium of the best research on the longitudinal course of early marriage, and it is particularly timely because this research is now at an exciting phase: Specific models are being developed to address the etiology of marital deterioration. In my commentary I offer my thoughts on those concepts and ideas represented in this book that seem to have the greatest potential to advance our understanding of how marriages succeed and fail.

Half of all divorces occur in the first seven years of marriage, and Kurdek's chapter lends support to other work that demonstrates that the stresses of the early years of marriage are related to the transition to parenthood. However, Noller and Feeney's chapter raises questions about whether this decay is a function of processes already operating in the relationship at or before the time of marriage. Their results are reminiscent of those reported by Jay Belsky and by Philip and Carolyn Pape Cowan on the transition toward parenthood. This volume presents research that takes us back earlier than the last trimester of pregnancy, and the mystery of the etiology of marital decay is laid out very well here.