Marital Adjustment
adjusted marriages are expected to end in
HALEY MEDVED KENDRICK and PATRICIA
DRENTEA
University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA
Marital adjustment describes the experience
of a married couple acclimating to a marital
relationship. New marriages begin with a
period of marital adjustment as both spouses
learn to adapt to the marriage. Marital adjust-
ment can also describe how spouses adapt,
and their adaptation is used in predicting
marital success. Well-adjusted couples will
increasingly work as a team and a cohesive
unit rather than as two separate entities. Thus,
marital adjustment is the accommodation of
each spouse to the other, to his/her new role
as husband or wife, and to the responsibilities
of the marital relationship.
Dimensions used to determine levels of
marital adjustment include marital satis-
faction, cohesion, agreement, affection, and
conflict (Burgess and Cottrell 1939). Mari-
tal satisfaction is attitudinal and, therefore,
distinct for each spouse. Cohesion describes
each spouse’s commitment to the mar-
riage and companionship received from the
relationship. Generally, higher marital satis-
faction and cohesion of both spouses are char-
acteristic of well-adjusted couples. Agreement
on important issues is also vital to well-
adjusted marriages, so these marriages are
characterized by affection, displayed through
behavior, and calm resolution of conflict.
Marital adjustment is often discussed in
the context of marital prediction. Researchers
have worked to measure and predict marital
adjustment, although it is notoriously difficult
to measure. Numerous measures are available
that range from a few items to over a hundred
items. Well-adjusted couples are expected to
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Family Studies, First Edition. Edited by Constance L. Shehan.
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs071
have long-lasting marriages, whereas poorly
divorce; however, long-lasting marriages are
not necessarily well adjusted.
“Marital adjustment” is often used inter-
changeably with “marital satisfaction,” but
the concepts are distinct. Marital satisfaction
describes how satisfied each spouse is in
the marriage, whereas marital adjustment
describes a wider range of components,
including marital satisfaction, used to predict
marital success (Spanier and Cole 1976).
Lewis and Spanier (1979) suggested three
major factors predicting marital satisfaction:
social and personal resources, satisfaction
with lifestyle, and rewards from spousal inter-
action. More recent research has focused on
other components including psychological
factors (e.g., personality traits, beliefs, atti-
tudes), sociodemographic factors (e.g., age,
race, education, religion), and social trends
(e.g., delayed marriage and childbearing,
increased cohabitation), parenting, and phys-
ical and mental health (Bradbury, Fincham,
and Beach 2000).
Early predictors of marital adjustment
included age difference between spouses,
duration of marriage, number of children
(Bernard 1934; Kirkpatrick 1937), religiosity
(Wilson and Filsinger 1986), and emotional
maturity (Dean 1966), many of which still
hold true today. Spouses close in age tend
to have better marital adjustment than those
with large age differences. Marital adjustment
has long been understood to decrease in the
early years of marriage and to increase later
as children age. However, recent research
suggests that satisfaction declines steeply in
early marriage, then declines more slowly
over time, but does not increase (Bradbury,
Fincham, and Beach 2000). The presence and
number of children tend to have a negative
2 M A R I TAL ADJ U STM E N T
effect on marital adjustment and are more
influential on wives. Higher religiosity and
more emotional maturity are linked to better
marital adjustment.
Although marital adjustment is believed to
be a predictor of marital stability, individuals
in poorly adjusted marriages may choose to
remain in their relationship if they do not
have real or perceived desirable alternatives.
Desirable alternatives include other relation-
ships, careers, and so on. Problems remain
in the measurement of marital adjustment,
such as self-report biases (Edmonds, Withers,
and Dibatista 1972) and selection biases,
where better adjusted marriages last longer,
resulting in the appearance that length of
marriage affects marital adjustment.
SEE ALSO: Family Cohesion; Marital Quality;
Marital Satisfaction; Marital Stability; Marital
Success
REFERENCES
Bernard, Jessie. 1934. “Factors in the Distribution
of Success in Marriage.” American Journal of
Sociology, 40(1): 49–60. DOI:10.1086/216651.
Bradbury, Thomas N., Franklin D. Fincham, and
Steven R. H. Beach. 2000. “Research on the
Nature and Determinants of Marital Satisfac-
tion: A Decade in Review.” Journal of Marriage
and Family, 62(4): 964–80. DOI:10.1111/j.1741-
3737.2000.00964.x.
Burgess, Ernest W., and Leonard S. Cottrell. 1939.
Predicting Success or Failure in Marriage. New
York: Prentice Hall.
Dean, Dwight G. 1966. “Emotional Maturity
and Marital Adjustment.” Journal of Marriage
and the Family, 28(4): 454–57. DOI:10.2307/
349543.
Edmonds, Vernon H., Glenne Withers, and
Beverly Dibatista. 1972. “Adjustment, Con-
servatism, and Marital Conventionalization.”
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 34(1):
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Kirkpatrick, Clifford. 1937. “Factors in Marital
Adjustment.” American Journal of Sociology,
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Lewis, Robert A., and Graham B. Spanier. 1979.
“Theorizing about the Quality and Stability of
Marriage.” In Contemporary Theories about the
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Ivan Nye, and Ira Reiss. New York: Free Press.
Spanier, Graham B., and Charles L. Cole. 1976.
“Toward Clarification and Investigation of Mar-
ital Adjustment.” International Journal of Sociol-
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Wilson, Margaret R., and Erik E. Filsinger.
1986. “Religiosity and Marital Adjustment:
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DOI:10.2307/352238.
FURTHER READING
Burgess, Ernest W., and Paul Wallin. 1953. Engage-
ment and Marriage. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Hamilton, Gilbert V. 1929. A Research in Marriage.
New York: Albert & Charles Boni.
Locke, Harvey J. 1951. Predicting Adjustment in
Marriage: A Comparison of a Divorced and a
Happily Married Group. New York: Henry Holt.
Locke, Harvey J., and Karl M. Wallace. 1959. “Short
Marital-Adjustment and Prediction Tests: Their
Reliability and Validity.” Marriage and Family
Living, 21(3): 251–55.
Spanier, Graham B., and Robert A. Lewis. 1980.
“Marital Quality: A Review of the Seventies.”
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 42: 825–39.
DOI:10.2307/351827.
Terman, Lewis M., Paul Buttenwieser, Leonard W.
Ferguson, Winifred Bent Johnson, and Donald
Powell Wilson. 1938. Psychological Factors in
Marital Happiness. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Terman, Lewis M., and Winifred B. Johnson. 1939.
“Methodology and Results of Recent Studies
in Marital Adustment.” American Sociological
Review, 4(3): 307–24.