Sylvia Niehuis

Positive Illusions in Marital Relationships: A 13-Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined the long-term consequences of idealization in marriage, using both daily diary and questionnaire data collected from a sample of 168 newlywed couples who participated in a 4-wave, 13-year longitudinal study of marriage. Idealization was operationalized as the tendency for people to perceive their partner as more agreeable than would be expected based on their reports of their partners agreeable and disagreeable behaviors. Spouses who idealized one another were more in love with each other as newlyweds. Longitudinal analyses suggested that spouses were less likely to suffer declines in love when they idealized one another as newlyweds. Newlywed levels of idealization did not predict divorce.

The Early Marital Roots of Conjugal Distress and Divorce

This article summarizes research that challenges conventional wisdom about the early roots of marital distress and divorce. We abstract results from a 13-year study that focused on the extent to which long-term marital satisfaction and stability could be forecast from newlywed and early marital data. We explore the usefulness of three models emergent distress, enduring dynamics, and disillusionment designed to explain why some marriages thrive and others fail. The dominant paradigm, the emergent-distress model, sees newlyweds as homogeneously blissful and posits that distress develops as disagreements and negativity escalate, ultimately leading some couples to divorce. The results we summarize run counter to this model and suggest instead that (a) newlyweds differ considerably in the intensity of both their romance and the negativity of their behavior toward one another and, for those who remain married, these early dynamics persist over time; and (b) for couples who divorce, romance seems to deteriorate differently depending on how long the marriage lasts. Soon after their wedding, “early exiters” seem to lose hope of improving an unpromising relationship; “delayed-action divorcers” begin marriage on a particularly high note, yet quickly show signs of disillusionment. These delayed-action divorcers reluctantly give up on the marriage long after the romance has faded.

Using online methods and designs to conduct research on personal relationships

In recent years the Internet has become a useful tool for carrying out research. The authors provide information specific to relationship research regarding qualitative and quantitative research methods, the advantages and disadvantages of online research, and practical concerns researchers may have regarding data quality and validity, sampling issues, and ethical considerations. They conclude with an empirical example of how the Internet can be used to carry out longitudinal, daily diary, self-report, and relationship research.

Disillusionment in Cohabiting and Married Couples A National Study

Using a national sample of married (N = 752) and cohabiting (N = 323) couples, we examined the association between disillusionment and self-perceived breakup likelihood. Because disillusionment had not previously been studied in cohabiting couples, its extent and consequences for them were not known. We found considerable disillusionment in cohabiters, their mean level exceeding that of married couples. Based on a conceptual model of relationship change, we tested further whether disillusionment would predict self-perceived breakup likelihood, controlling for relationship satisfaction, commitment, and length. Furthermore, based on assumptions about barriers to leaving different types of relationships, we examined whether disillusionment’s association with breakup likelihood would be stronger in cohabiting than married couples. Results supported disillusionment’s ability to predict perceived breakup likelihood, even with rigorous controls, and the greater strength of this association in cohabiters. In addition, we found a significantly positive partner effect: Male partners’ disillusionment predicted female partners’ breakup likelihood.

Convergent and discriminant validity of the Marital Disillusionment Scale.

The Marital Disillusionment Scale, together with measures of divorce proneness, marital disaffection, work addiction, sensation seeking, intimacy, and marital satisfaction (using the subscales Marital Disharmony and Disaffection), was administered to 116 married people (42 men, 74 women) in a university town in the western USA. Scores on the Marital Disillusionment Scale had significant positive correlations with scores on the Marital Instability Scale (r = .54), the Marital Disaffection Scale (r = .72), and the two subscales Disharmony (r = .53) and Disaffection (r = .75) of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory. Scores for the Marital Disillusionment Scale were negatively correlated with those for the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships Inventory (r = −.65) but were not significantly associated with scores for the Work Addiction Risk Test and the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale. The results support the convergent and discriminant validity of the Marital Disillusionment Scale.

Courtship Progression Rate and Declines in Expressed Affection Early in Marriage A Test of the Disillusionment Model

According to the disillusionment model, dating partners may idealize each other due to romantic feelings and partners’ presenting themselves favorably to each other. However, this idealization can fade once couples marry and experience routine daily living. Highly passionate (i.e., quickly accelerating) courtships, replete with idealization, likely make partners vulnerable to subsequent declines in marital affection—or disillusionment. To test this notion, 168 newlywed couples provided retrospective survey and interview information on how passionate their courtship was and brief series of daily assessments of affectionate behavior during the first 2 years of marriage. Results from multilevel analyses showed that respondents who experienced highly passionate courtships reported their spouses as behaving more affectionately toward them as newlyweds, but experienced declines in perceived affectionate expression as the marriage progressed. Results persisted after controlling for possible confounding variables (e.g., age at dating onset, courtship length, premarital love, cohabitation, and conflict). Findings support the disillusionment model.

Do episodic self- and partner-uncertainty mediate the association between attachment orientations and emotional responses to relationship-threatening events in dating couples?

This study examined relational-uncertainty perceptions (a form of cognitive appraisal) to investigate how partners in 272 heterosexual couples responded emotionally to a relationship-challenging event. Participants rated themselves on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Then, after listing a challenging event, they rated how uncertain it made them about their own and their partners continued involvement in the relationship. Participants also rated how angry and fearful the event made them. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model yielded three sets of results. First, actor effects from insecure attachment orientations to episodic relational uncertainty emerged. Second, proposed mediation between attachment orientations and emotional reactions by uncertainty was partially supported (perceived partner-uncertainty partially mediated the positive association of anxious attachment and fear, and self-uncertainty partially mediated the positive relation between avoidant attachment and anger). Finally, a partner effect was found between one couple members avoidant attachment and the others perceived partner uncertainty. Men and women exhibited similar findings.

Over- and Under-Perceiving Social Support from One’s Partner and Relationship Quality Over Time

Abstract Using dyadic data from a national longitudinal survey in Germany (N = 3,674 couples), we tested associations between congruence/discrepancy in partners’ reports of providing and receiving social support (i.e., whether a recipient reports more or less than the provider) and relationship quality. All participants reported how much social support they provided to, and received from, their partner. Latent Congruence Modeling was used to enhance the reliability of difference scores between one partner’s reported provision and the others reported receipt. In most instances, perceiving more support than one’s partner reported giving (over-perception) and extensive support reported jointly by providers and recipients were positively associated with recipients’ and providers’ relationship quality. Conceptual, methodological, and possible clinical issues are discussed.

Accuracy and bias in newlywed spouses' perceptions of each other's personalities: Accuracy and bias

This study investigated moderators of newlywed spouses’ accuracy in judging each other’s personality. Spouses in 154 predominantly Hispanic newlywed couples rated their own and their partners’ personality traits. Full-sample results showed significant associations between perceivers’ and targets’ personality ratings (“truth force”/“tracking accuracy”). Positive directional bias (perceivers’ mean trait ratings of targets exceeding targets’ self-ratings) also was evident. Positive directional bias occurred when perceivers had little familiarity with their spouse prior to dating and when perceivers had high self-esteem. Truth force/tracking accuracy increased with less time spent cohabiting and higher perceiver self-esteem. Positive associations between perceivers’ self-esteem and ratings of partners on positively valenced traits were reduced when partners had had greater opportunities to observe one another’s behaviors. Personality judgments play a large part in everyday life. Individuals’ social success depends on their ability to judge other people’s personality and on how other people judge them. Mayer (2014) considers the ability to accurately judge others’ personalities to be part of a larger construct called personal intelligence, which involves the understanding and reasoning about others’ traits and behaviors. Personality judgments form the basis of decisions regarding whom to trust, date, and Wendy I. Wood, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech University; C. Rebecca Oldham, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech University; Alan Reifman, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech University; Sylvia Niehuis, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech University. This project was funded by grants to Sylvia Niehuis from Texas Tech University’s Office of the Vice President for Research, Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement, College of Human Sciences, and Department of Human Development and Family Studies. This paper is the result of Wendy I. Wood’s undergraduate research with Sylvia Niehuis. Correspondence should be addressed to Sylvia Niehuis, Texas Tech University, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Lubbock, TX 79409-1230, e-mail: sylvia.niehuis@ttu.edu. marry (Funder, 2012). Additionally, accurate judgment of a partner’s personality is one of many factors that can positively forecast marital satisfaction (Decuyper, De Bolle, & De Fruyt, 2012; Luo & Snider, 2009). The current study brings together several conceptual models on interpersonal accuracy and its possible determinants. Two partly overlapping perspectives on defining accuracy are Fletcher’s tracking accuracy/positivity bias framework (Fletcher, 2015; Fletcher & Kerr, 2010) and West and Kenny’s (2011) truth and bias model. Regarding determinants of accuracy, two theories are Funder’s (2012) realistic accuracy model (RAM), emphasizing opportunities to observe behavioral manifestations of a target’s behavior and how such information is used, and Murray and colleagues’ dependency regulation model (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2000), focusing on the affective variable of self-esteem. This study combines Funder’s and Murray’s perspectives to study correlates of newlywed spouses’ accuracy in judging each other’s personality. The Big Five personality traits (e.g., Digman, 1990) are used in this study for perceivers’ ratings of targets and

Predicting Partner Enhancement in Marital Relationships The Family of Origin, Attachment, and Social Network Approval

Partner enhancement is an important relational process that has been linked to better relationship outcomes in existing research. However, little is known about variables that might be associated with the practice of partner enhancement. In this study, we utilized an ecosystemic model with a sample of 1,432 couples and an actor/partner interdependence model to explore whether the family of origin, attachment avoidance and anxiety, and social network approval predicted partner enhancement scores. The results indicated that the family of origin was only indirectly associated with partner enhancement through attachment and social network approval. The best predictors of partner enhancement were attachment avoidance and social network approval. Higher scores on actor attachment avoidance were related to higher scores on partner enhancement contrary to expectations. Curiously, partner effects for attachment avoidance were the opposite in that higher scores were associated with lower levels of partner enhancement. Attachment anxiety was associated with lower scores on partner enhancement for both actor and partner effects, and social network approval was associated with higher scores on partner enhancement.