Healthy Marriage
Publication # 2004-16
RESEARCH BRIEF
4301 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20008 Phone 202-572-6000 Fax 202-362-5533 www.childtrends.org
What Is “Healthy Marriage”? Defining the Concept
By Kristin Anderson Moore, Ph.D., Susan M. Jekielek, Ph.D., Jacinta Bronte-Tinkew, Ph.D., Lina Guzman, Ph.D., Suzanne Ryan, Ph.D., and Zakia Redd, M.P.P. September 2004
verview Americans love books and movies that end with a couple exchanging vows and going on to live “happily ever after.” We cry at weddings, and we admire couples of whom it can be said, “They have a great marriage.” And young people today continue to place great importance on a good marriage and family life.1 At the same time, a considerable number of contemporary Americans have deep reservations about their prospects for marriage, the quality of a marriage they might enter, and the odds that their marriage will last.2 Some even raise concerns that marriage can be a trap and can expose women to domestic violence.3 Despite these divergent views and concerns, there is a lot of common ground. Most people, including unmarried parents, value marriage and want to be married.4 Moreover, research indicates that children thrive best when raised by both biological married parents,5 as long as the marriage is not high-conflict.6 Thus, for the sake of adults, children, and society, a growing consensus is emerging that it is not just marriage per se that matters, but healthy marriage.7 But what is a healthy marriage? This Research Brief addresses that question by examining the concept of healthy marriage and the elements that, taken together, help to define it, such as commitment, marital satisfaction, and communication, as well as two elements that pose obvious threats to healthy marriage: violence and infidelity. This brief also considers factors that are antecedents and consequences of healthy marriage and distinguishes these from the definition of a healthy marriage. The result is a conceptual
RESEARCH BRIEF
4301 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20008 Phone 202-572-6000 Fax 202-362-5533 www.childtrends.org
What Is “Healthy Marriage”? Defining the Concept
By Kristin Anderson Moore, Ph.D., Susan M. Jekielek, Ph.D., Jacinta Bronte-Tinkew, Ph.D., Lina Guzman, Ph.D., Suzanne Ryan, Ph.D., and Zakia Redd, M.P.P. September 2004
verview Americans love books and movies that end with a couple exchanging vows and going on to live “happily ever after.” We cry at weddings, and we admire couples of whom it can be said, “They have a great marriage.” And young people today continue to place great importance on a good marriage and family life.1 At the same time, a considerable number of contemporary Americans have deep reservations about their prospects for marriage, the quality of a marriage they might enter, and the odds that their marriage will last.2 Some even raise concerns that marriage can be a trap and can expose women to domestic violence.3 Despite these divergent views and concerns, there is a lot of common ground. Most people, including unmarried parents, value marriage and want to be married.4 Moreover, research indicates that children thrive best when raised by both biological married parents,5 as long as the marriage is not high-conflict.6 Thus, for the sake of adults, children, and society, a growing consensus is emerging that it is not just marriage per se that matters, but healthy marriage.7 But what is a healthy marriage? This Research Brief addresses that question by examining the concept of healthy marriage and the elements that, taken together, help to define it, such as commitment, marital satisfaction, and communication, as well as two elements that pose obvious threats to healthy marriage: violence and infidelity. This brief also considers factors that are antecedents and consequences of healthy marriage and distinguishes these from the definition of a healthy marriage. The result is a conceptual