Age at Marriage and Marital Instability

Abstract

Numerous studies show that early marriage increases marital instability; more recent studies show that late marriages also appear to be less stable. This paper examines 3 alternatives: 1) how the effect of marital timing may be mediated by the adequacy of role performance 2) the availability of alternatives to the marital relationship and 3) external pressures on the married pair. Using a 1980 national sample of 1715 married people under age 55 the study compared the relationship of the dependent variable marital instability with the independent variable age at marriage and intervening variables--aspects of spouses performance troublesome behaviors of self and spouse perceived ability to manage in case of divorce barriers to divorce parent-spouse relations and sharing friends. Multiple classification analysis shows that marital instability is highest for those who marry early with those who marry late scoring somewhat lower. While role performance is the only explanation of the 3 considered that reaches significance it does not totally account for the association between marital timing and instability. The authors suggest that age at marriage influences early and late marriages in very different ways. In teenage marriages the role performance variable that best accounts for instability is lack of sexual exclusiveness. This perceived problem coincides with the peak in sexual interest especially among men hinting that this may have a biosocial origin. Perhaps individuals who limit their sexual partners to 1 when their interest in variety is high develop a pattern of acting out their impulses thoughout their lives. Interpreting the instability of late marriages is more difficult. Late marriers may be marrying people quite different from themselves because they have fewer choices. Late-marrying males also tended to marry women considerably younger and better educated than themselves. These background differences could be an important reason for marital instability.

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