Sociology Faculty Publications
The 20-Year Trajectory of Marital Quality in Enduring Marriages: Does Equity Matter?
Document Type
Article
Abstract
I examine the trajectory of marital quality as a function of relationship equity with data from a six-wave panel study of 704 married respondents between 1980 and 2000. Reporting that one "gives more" to the marriage (subjective underbenefit) is more likely for women than men at any given marital duration. Respondent's relative contribution to income, paid labor, housework, and health (objective underbenefit) raises this probability for women of average religiosity. For the more religious, objective underbenefit has no effect on women's sense of underbenefit, but reduces men's sense of underbenefit. Objective underbenefit lowers women's, but raises men's, marital quality, at any marital duration. The relevance of equity was not diluted by the passage of time in marriage.
Copyright Statement
Publisher PDF
Publisher's Statement
Availability via databases maintained by the United States National Library of Medicine.
Repository Citation
DeMaris, Alfred, "The 20-Year Trajectory of Marital Quality in Enduring Marriages: Does Equity Matter?" (2010). Sociology Faculty Publications. 15.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/soc_pub/15
Publication Date
6-2010
Publication Title
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
Start Page No.
449
End Page No.
471