Marital Well-Being and General Happiness of Newlywed Couples: Relationships Across Time

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between the marital well-being and the general happiness of an individual across time and the relationship of one partner's marital well-being to the subsequent marital well-being of the spouse. The marital well-being and general happiness of individuals from 317 newlywed couples (161 African-American couples, 155 White couples) were assessed in the first year of marriage and again in the second year. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the higher an individual's Time 1 marital well-being was, the greater his or her Time 2 general happiness became. For men, but not women, the higher their Time 1 general happiness was, the higher their marital well-being became at Time 2. Also, in general, the higher the individual's Time 1 marital well-being was, the higher the Time 2 marital well-being of the partner became.