Chris, this is my interpretation of what that research article concluded. Did I understand it correctly and present it in a readable fashion for the average kind of guy?<P>Thanks,<BR>Beth<P>PS...Hope your daughter is feeling better.<BR>Is there a significate woman/friend in her life who she can talk to? Like a "big sister?" Something like that might help her as time goes by.<P><BR>Chapter 2---Taking on Passengers<BR> Very little research can be found regarding how the quality of marriages changes through time and what variables affect the patterns of change. (Laurence A. Kurdek, March 1999) Research conducted by Karney and Bradbury in 1997 indicates that all marriages begin at a fairly high, idealistic quality level, but that over time, specifically the first four years in their study, the quality of the marriage declines. This was evident in all the couples studied. If their study is to be accepted as truth for all couples then it would follow that the first three years of a marriage represent the best it will ever be. In the same project Karney and Bradbury determined that the rate of change from assessment to assessment was the same, beginning at the same time for all the couples included in the project. The value attributed to the beginning quality of the marriage varied as a result of individual factors. Abnormal psychological characteristics of the individuals in the study contributed to a lower beginning level of marital quality as assessed by the participants. Problematic conflict resolution styles utilized by couples were found to actually contribute to the rate of decline. No other factors were considered in this project as major contributors toward the marital decline. With research being so sketchy and incomplete in this area, I can only suggest that separations caused by occupational needs would contribute significantly to a situation that is already destined to deteriorate.<BR> Laurence A Kurdec conducted a second research project in 1998. His purpose was to build on the study of Karney and Bradbury (1997) additional evidence to explain further variability in the trajectory of change over a longer period of time. The study followed the lives of 93 couples for a ten- year period. The research revealed that marital decline stabilized for approximately a three year period after a fairly rapid decline within the first four years of marriage. A second rapid drop in assessments of marital quality happened sometime between the seventh and eighth year of marriage, corresponding somewhat with the “seven year itch” phenomenon. (Kovacs, 1983) The study examined three sets of predictor variables as contributing factors to the decline, individual personality differences, marriage and divorce history, and the presence vs. absence of children, biological and step, in the marriage. The entire study is interesting reading, but for the purposes of this chapter I want to focus particularly on the finding revealed by the study that the addition of biological children to the family caused a steeper decline in marital quality than experienced in families without children or those with stepchildren. Marriage and divorce histories and individual personality differences, while contributing to marital decline in particular situations, where not as significant factors for the deterioration as having children, particularly biological one. Let me rephrase that. Giving birth to and raising children causes major changes in the structure of a marriage that contribute significantly to marital dissatisfaction between the spouses. More significantly than any other factor considered in the study. If having children causes stress and marital decline in the average, two parent at home kind of family, in what way does having children in the home of a traveling spouse cause special or unique problems? And how is that different from the problems experienced by the single parent?<BR>
