Most family scholars agree that marital quality is related to marital stability. However, a great deal of controversy has surrounded the theoretical influence of alternative attractions to marriage and barriers to divorce as moderator or contingency factors on the marital quality/marital stablilty relationship. Spanier and Lewis (1979, 1980) have proposed one model that has been sharply criticized by Thomas and Kleber (1981). In this analysis of the controversy, we attempt to clarify each position and to explain how both theoretical models are valid under different conidtions but do not represent irreconcilable views of the marital relationship.
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Schumm et al. (1985) studied this question.