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Background: Marital goals reflect individuals' understanding of the purpose of marriage and could influence the dyadic interactions and satisfaction in intimate relationships. The current study examines how each partner's marital goals and the concordance of marital goals between the partners influence dating couples' relationship satisfaction through dyadic coping., Method: The sample consisted of 200 heterosexual dating couples from Hong Kong. Both partners completed a survey that assessed three types of marital goals, dyadic coping, relationship satisfaction, and other background variables. Path analysis was conducted to estimate the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) with each partner's three types of marital goals and marital goal concordance between the two partners as the predictors, each partner's dyadic coping as the mediators, and each partner's relationship satisfaction as the outcomes., Results: Women's dyadic coping significantly mediated the effects of women's companionship goals and marital goal concordance on both partners' marital satisfaction. Meanwhile, men's dyadic coping significantly mediated the effects of men's companionship goals and marital goal concordance on their own relationship satisfaction., Conclusion: The current study offered the first evidence supporting the importance of marital goals, the goal concordance between the partners, and dyadic coping in dating relationships.

Older adults report higher marital satisfaction than younger adults even after negative interactions. The current study examined affect valuation as a potential moderator to explain age-related differences in the relationship between negative interactions and marital satisfaction. We conducted a 14-day daily diary study among 66 heterosexual couples (132 participants) aged from 21 to 80 years. At both person and daily levels, we found that valuing negative affect weakened the negative association between negative interactions and marital satisfaction in husbands. The moderating effect of negative affect valuation was stronger in older than younger husbands at the person but not daily level. Valuing positive affect more was associated with a stronger negative association between negative interactions and marital satisfaction in husbands at the person but not daily level. Such effect was again stronger in older than younger husbands. No significant results were found in wives. These findings shed light on the importance of affect valuation in understanding age-related differences in marital dynamics., (© 2024 International Association of Applied Psychology.)

Both the dynamic goal theory of marital satisfaction and the suffocation model of marriage argue that whether people are satisfied with their marriage largely depends on their marital goals. However, the lack of a validated measure has greatly limited empirical investigations about marital goals. The current study developed the Marital Goal Scale (MGS) using Rasch modeling. We provided evidence for the validity of the scale scores and confirmed its factorial structure using confirmatory factor analysis. The MGS contains 3 subscales assessing personal growth, instrumental, and companionship goals, respectively. The functioning of each subscale with a 4-point rating scale was supported by Rasch modeling in a married sample (from Hong Kong and the United States) and an unmarried sample (from Hong Kong). The discriminant and convergent validity of the subscale scores were supported in both samples. Major assumptions of the dynamic goal theory were also examined and partially supported. The MGS provides a useful tool to support empirical research about marital goals. Future studies are encouraged to utilize this tool to further investigate the important role of marital goals in marital dynamics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Intimate relationship is a significant factor that influences older adults' subjective well-being. Avoidant attachment reflects a basic working model regarding interpersonal relationships. The current study aims to test how age and gender moderate the effect of avoidant attachment to spouse on subjective well-being. Fifty-six married couples aged from 20 to 79 years in Hong Kong were recruited for the study. Their avoidant attachment to spouse and subjective well-being were measured by questionnaires. In general, avoidant attachment to spouse was found to undermine subjective well-being. More importantly, age significantly moderated the negative association between avoidant attachment and subjective well-being, but the direction of the moderating effect was opposite for husbands and wives. Compared with their younger counterparts, the detrimental effect of avoidant attachment on subjective well-being was weaker for older wives but stronger for older husbands. The results suggest that marital relationship may play different roles in different life stages for the two genders. In later adulthood, males may become more dependent on the marital relationship to maintain subjective well-being, whereas females can be relatively independent.

Objectives: Previous studies have observed a rebound of marital quality in later adulthood. This study tested whether partner discrepancy was a mediator of the age differences in marital quality., Method: The present study assessed partner discrepancies and marital quality in 56 couples, 20-79 years old. Two levels of partner standards (ideal and expected standards) and 2 domains of partner characteristics (personality and support) were examined., Results: Husbands' partner discrepancies, but not wives', were found to mediate the curvilinear age differences in martial quality., Discussion: Consistent with the life-span theory of control, the results suggest that adjusting cognition about the partner is essential to the typically higher marital quality in later adulthood. The results also suggest that the level of comparison standards and the specific domain of partner characteristics should be considered in future studies.