Prescriptions for Happy Marriage: Adjustments and Satisfactions of Couples Married for 50 or More Years

Abstract

Couples who were married 50 or more years were interviewed about what they felt were the most important factors in happy marriage. Their marital satisfactions were assessed over the stages of the family life cycle. Indices of their marital adjustment and personality were examined using a self, perceived-other comparison technique. Positive marital adjustment was found to be related to congruence of self-other perceptions. The literature on marriage and marriage adjustment is abundant as one covers the courtship and early marriage years, but decreases as length of marriage increases. There has been relatively little written about the postparental years and even less about marriages that have been in existence 40, 50 or more years. Stinnett, Collins and Montgomery (1972, p. 665) stated: Unfortunately, research concerned with the perceptions of older husbands and wives towards their marriage relationships and their present period of life is very limited. A review of the literature over the subsequent five years offers little evidence to