TY - JOUR
T1 - Courtship Progression Rate and Declines in Expressed Affection Early in Marriage
T2 - A Test of the Disillusionment Model
AU - Niehuis, Sylvia
AU - Reifman, Alan
AU - Feng, Du
AU - Huston, Ted L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, © The Author(s) 2014.
PY - 2014/6
Y1 - 2014/6
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - courtship
KW - disillusionment
KW - longitudinal research
KW - marital affection
KW - passion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84964284526&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0192513X14540159
DO - 10.1177/0192513X14540159
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84964284526
SN - 0192-513X
VL - 37
SP - 1074
EP - 1100
JO - Journal of Family Issues
JF - Journal of Family Issues
IS - 8
ER -