Commitment and the Long-Term Marriage Relationship

This was a study of the relationship of commitment in marriage and change in commitment over marriage to the expression of love and marriage problems among long-term Norwegian married couples. The sample consisted of 72 subjects with an average age of 66.7 years and married an average of 37.3 years. It was found that those who were committed to their spouses as persons had significantlyfewer marriage problems. Those whose commitment appeared to increase in the direction of increased commitment to the spouse as a person over the course of marriage expressed significantly more love to their spouses and had significantly fewer marriage problems. However, commitment to the spouse as a person declined for most couples over the course of marriage.