textThis study examines whether couples’ expression of affection and
negativity as newlyweds and over the first two years of marriage can be predicted
from couples’ courtship experiences. The usefulness of three developmental
models – disillusionment, emergent distress, and enduring dynamics – that have
been put forth to explain the link between courtship and marital outcomes is
explored empirically. Previous research has shown that couples who become
disillusioned early in marriage are highly affectionate as newlyweds but
experience a dramatic loss of affection during the early years of marriage. In
contrast, the literature on marital relationships shows that many couples
experience increases in distress over the course of marriage. Finally, couples who
experience stable marital patterns can be differentiated regarding their marital
patterns both when they are newlyweds and later in marriage. Consistent with the
disillusionment model, newlyweds’ initial levels of, and couples’ declines in,
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affectional expression over the first two years of marriage was predicted by (a)
couples’ shorter courtship length, (b) men’s younger age at marriage, (c) men’s
lower levels of premarital ambivalence, (d) both partners’ higher levels of
premarital maintenance behavior, (e) the speed with which partners fell in love
with each other, and (f) both partners’ deeper feelings of love for one another
during courtship. No support was found for the emergent distress model. Contrary
to the predictions of the emergent distress model, couples’ length of courtship,
their acceleration of commitment, and men’s speed of falling in love with their
partner predicted declines rather than increases in negativity over the first two
years of marriage. Finally, support for the enduring dynamics model was provided
by findings, which showed that premarital conflict predicted couples’ newlywed
levels of affectional expression, but not changes in affectional expression over the
first two years of marriage. Similarly, partners’ premarital maintenance behavior
predicted couples’ newlywed levels of negativity, but not increases in negativity
over time. The discussion of the results centers on the contributions of the study
for current research that seeks to predict marital outcomes and the usefulness of
the three developmental models for explaining the link between courtship patterns
and affectional expression and negativity early in marriage.Human Ecolog
