Do “His” and “Her” Marriages Influence One Another? Contagion in Personal Assessments of Marital Quality among Older Spouses over a Four-Year Span

Abstract

Husbands and wives differ in their evaluations of marital quality, with “his” marriage typically proving better than “her” marriage. However, spouses’ perceptions of marital quality tend to be significantly correlated with one another. Prior research has addressed the existence and implications of gender differences in marital quality but has focused less on spouses’ similarities in their perceptions. In particular, prior studies have not examined the extent to which spouses’ assessments of marital quality may be reciprocally related. In short, do his and her marriages influence one another? This study analyzes longitudinal dyadic data from 209 older married couples who participated in the first two waves of the Disability and Use of Time supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (2009–2013). Two-wave lagged models tested emotional and social contagion theory by examining whether husbands’ and wives’ reports of marital quality at baseline predicted both spouses’ marital quality after four years. Results indicated that (a) husbands reported better marital quality than their wives in both 2009 and 2013; (b) for both husbands and wives, baseline marital quality was significantly related with one’s own and one’s partner’s marital quality four years later; and (c) there were no differences in effects according to gender. These findings offer support for the framework of his and her marriage as well as emotional and social contagion theory.