Marital-Status and Sex Differences in Problems Reported by Married and Cohabiting Couples

Fifty married and 50 unmarried, cohabiting couples were asked to describe four problems which occurred in their relationship—problems in which one partner was unhappy about the other's behavior, or in which the two of them disagreed about joint decisions. Despite overall similarity of the kinds of problems reported by married and cohabiting couples, married women were particularly likely to complain that their husbands did not give them sufficient attention. Husbands were especially unlikely to mention that their wives were too independent. After specifying two alternative behaviors for each partner in the problem situation, couples rated their degree of satisfaction with each of the four resulting behavioral combinations. Wives rated themselves as more unhappy when their problem arose than cohabiting partners rated themselves, and husbands were least unhappy. Wives' overall satisfaction was affected by their problem situation most of all, husbands' least of all, and cohabitors' satisfaction to an intermediate degree. Results were discussed with reference to the greater advantage that husbands derive from marriage than wives.