I“ '. . .‘.“‘ . . t. v ‘ ' - ‘ V 7' , y.. . .. 0' ‘ _ ' - [In-b. n v ' " ' ' : 7 “ ‘ ‘ " '”" - H v ."""." ‘T-Wm. up"? r “’4' . . . ‘ p! I“ .y I‘L‘I .' V ‘0 "’1 “3.! vr‘ . a”, . ; Y. _u 1-: ;- t' .- - ‘ , | c .. l vo‘ ' s3 " q: i} I. . STUD-Em mamas; AT MICHlGAN STATE mum Theda far the flames: of M. A. MICMGAN .‘STATE 5CQLLEG§ Lois Veer Veer Pratt '; 194;} $7 4. .4 3.. J . I’_’ ‘1 . 3". J Y. {K I" This is to certify that the thesis entitled STUDENT MARRIAGES AT MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE presented by Lois Ver Veer Pratt has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for _M._L.__deqree MEL / ’ Major professor —_,. .— . I I STUDENT HARRIAGES AT MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE A questionnaire study of 544 couples 133/ LOIS VER VEER PRATT A THESIS Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agricultureanfii Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology and Anthr0p0105y 1948 Wh\w§ PRLFACm The author is indebted to many people at Michigan State College for assistance in develOping and completing this study. Dr. Judson T. Landis, who conceived the idea for the study, offered encouragement and guidance at each step. Dr. Charles P. Loomis, Dr. Stanley 3. Crowe, and Er. J. Donald Phillips, together with Dr. Landis, plotted the overall design of the study. Eany members of the staff of the Sociology and Anthropology Department were called upon for help in specific problems many times. Dr. Duane Gibson gave statistical assis- tance; Dr. Edgar Schuler aided in developing the questionnaire. The resources of such a Department greatly facilitated the con- ducting of the study. Mr. Frank Kartin rendered immeasurable service by making available to the author the facilities of the Tabulating Department and by giving much needed technical assistance. In the initial stage of the study, several instructors in the iffective Living Department generously permitted the author to distribute questionnaires through their classes. Samuel Pratt painstakingly read the entire manuscript and made corrections. Finally, the writer wishes to acknowledge her indebt— edness to the more than 500 married couples who provided the information on which the study was based. 1981354 Chapter 111:, Chapter IV: Chapter V: Chapter VI: Appendices. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION MARITAL SATISFACTION AGE AND EDUCATION LE‘TGTH OF THEE MARRIED AND CHILDREN ECONOMIC FACTORS AND HOUS ILTG MEETING THE MATE I MARI TAL ADJUSTMENT Chapter I: CRITERIA OF OVERALL I-iARITAL SATISFACTION ‘Chapter II: SEVEN ARMS OF MARITAL ADJU S TL'ENT Chapter III: SEVEN AREAS OF MARITAL ADJUS Ti’fENT ( CONT INUED) II THE QUESTIOl-INAIRE USED IN THE STUDY iii 135 157 172 215 LIST OF TABLES TABLE: L‘PAGE: 1:” Age differential between husbands and.wives. 25 2. Reported happiness of wives with no college education according to age married. 28 3. Marital happiness, the seriousness with which separation has been considered, and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, according to age married. as reported by wives and.by husbands ' 32 4. Adjustment of the wives in the seven areas of marital relationship according to the age at which they were married. 38 5. Adjustment of the husbands in the seven areas of marital relationship according to the age at which they were married. 89 6. Marital happiness, the seriousness with which separation has been considered, and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, according to the difference between the age of wife and husband, as reported by wives and by husbands. 42 7. Education level of wives according to the age at which they were married. 44 iv LIST OF TABLES (Continued) TABLE: PAGE: 8. Education level of husbands according to the are at which they were married. 45 9. Whether or not wives with some college training are now attending college, accordinr to the number of years of college completed. 46 10. Reported haopiness, the seriousness with which separrtion has been considered, and the ser— iousness of the most troublesome problem, ac- cording to the number of years of schooling received, as reported by wives and by husbands. 5O 11. Number of children according to the education level of wives. 57 12. Adjustment of wives in the seven areas of marital relationship. according to their level of schooling. 59 13. Age at which wives and husbands were married according to length of time they have been married. 62 14. Education level of husbands according to length of time they have been married. - 64 15. Education level of wives according to length of time they have been married. 64 16. Length of acquaintance with spouse before marriage according to when married. 65 V LIST OF TABLES (Continued) TABLE: PAGE: 17. Length of dating period with spouse before marriage, according to when married. 66 18. Length of engagement to spouse according to when married. . 67 19. Reported.happiness, the seriousness with which separation has been considered, and the ser- iousness of the most troublesome problem, according to length of time married, as reported by wives and by husbands. 7O 20. Adjustment of wives in the seven areas of marital relationship according to length of time they have been married. 76 21. Adjustment of husbands in the seven areas of marital relationship according to length of time they have been married. 77 22. Reported happiness, the seriousness with which separation has been considered, and the ser- iousness of the most troublesome problem, according to whether or not there are children, as reported by wives and by husbands. 80 23. Number of children according to length of time -arried. 81 vi 25. (U 0) I 27. 28. LIST OF TABLES (Continued) PAGE: Happiness, the serious;ess with which separation has been considered, and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, accordirc to the length of time the couple have been married, as report d by wives and by husbands 84 Adjustment of wives in the seven are s of marital relationship according to the numer of children. 91 Adjustment of husbands in the seven areas of marital relationship according to the number of children. 92 Mean monthly income, percent of income spent on food and rent, and amount spent on food and rent, by those families with no children, one child, and two children. 97 Mean amount and.percent of total income spent for food and rent according to the number of hours the wife works per week. 99 Number and.proportion of wives working in marriages with no children, one child, and two children. 101 Mean monthly income, mean amount and proportion of income spent for food and rent, and mean proportion of income that is derived from G.I. 102 Pay, according to the type of residence in which the counle lives. vii LIST OF TABLES (Continued) TnBLE: . PAGE: 31. Mean proportion of total income and mean amount spent monthly for food and rent, according to whether the 'family income is above or below the median. 105 32. Number and proportion living in the different types of residences. 106 33. Length of time the couples have lived at their present residence. 108 84. Length of time the couples have lived at their present residence according to the type of residence. 109 35. Type of residence the couple lives in according to the length of time they have been married. 112 36 Reported marital happiness of wives and husbands according to the type of housing accomodations they have arranged. 121 .37. The seriousness with which wives and husbands have considered separation according to the type of housing accomodhtions they have arranged. 122 38. The seriousness of the most troublesome problem, as reported by wives and by hus ands, according to the type of housing accomodations. that have 123 been arranged. viii LIST OF TABLES (Continued) TABLE: PAGE: 39. Reported marital happiness of wives rnd.of husbfnds according to the total income of the couple. 12 4| 40. The seriousness with which wives and husbaan report they have considered separation, accord— ing to the total income of the couple. 12 41. The seriousness of the most troublesome problem, {‘0 as reported by wives and by husbands, ccording to the total income of the couple. 12 42. Total income of the couple {coording to the length of time they have been married. 129 43. Reported marital happiness of wives and of husbands, by length of time married, according to total income of the couple. 154 44. Circumstances under which the couples first met. 138 45. Comparison of the circumstances under which the couples in the Terman sample and in the Michigan State College sample first met their mates. 140 46. The circumstances under which the couples first met their mates, according to the length of tine they have been married. 141 47. Reported happiness of husbands and of wives, ac- cording to the circumstances under hich the couple first met. 144 LIST OF TJVLES (Continued) TABLE: PAGE: 48. -he seriousness with which seunretion he s oeen considered by wives and by husbvnds, according to the circumstances under which the couple first met. 145 49. Circumstflnces under which the mate was first met, according to the age {t marriage of wives. 147 50. Circumstances under which mates were first met, according to the length of time the couple wa acquainted before marriz ge. 149 51. Circumstnnces under which mates were first met, according to the length of engagement. 149 52. Reported merits l hanp'ness of wives according to the length of ore—marital acQueintnnce, dating, and elgagement.153 53. Reported mL-riteli ;mi1ess of bus b nds according to the len3th of e-maritnl PCqueintnnce, dating, and engagement. 154 54. Seriousness with which seoaration has been con— sidered by wives according to the length of pre-maritrl ecQu nt nce, d ting, .nd e13o.ement 155 55. Seriousness with which seoaration he s oeen consider- ed according to the length of pre-mnritnl acQunint- ance, dPting, and engagement, as reported by 156 husbands. LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE ’d 3) c) SJ A. ProPortions in various age grades at time of marriage of 544 wives and husbands at Michigan State College. 24a LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES TABLE: PAGE: I II III VI' VII VIII The seriousness of the major problem of the marriage, ac- cording to the reported happiness of the marriage, by wives and by husbands. 161 The reported happiness of the marriage according to the ser- iousness with which separation has been considered, by bus— bands and by wives. 162 A comparison of the self-ratings of happiness in the present study by wives and by husbands, and in the Terman, Hamilton, Burgess and Cottrell, Davis, and Landis studies. 16h Coefficients of correlation between the adjustments of wives and the adjustments of husbands in the seven areas of mari— tal relationship. 16S Prooorticns of wives and husbands who rank each of the seven areas as their most serious problem, and proportions who rank each area as one of their first three most serious problems. 171 Coefficients of correlation between reported marital hap- piness and adjustment in each of the areas of marital rela- tionship, by wives and by husbands. 173 The number of imperfect adjustments in each of the seven areas, (of less than "excellent" and of "fair" or worse adjustment), by wives and by husbands. 17h Marital happiness according to the adjustment of the couple in sex relations, as reported by wives and by husbands. 183 TABLE: IX XI XII XIII XIV XVI LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES (Continued) PACE: Marital happiness according to the ranking of sex relations in sersiousness as a problem, as report- ed by wives and by husbands. lob The seriousness with which separation has been con- sidered, according to the adjustment of the couple 185 in sex relations, as reported by wives and by husbands. The seriousness with which separation has been con- sidered, according to the ranking of sex relations 9 in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. lo6 The seriousness of the most troublesome problem, ac- cording to the adjustment of the couple in sex re- lations, as reported by wives and by husbands. 187 The seriousness of the most troublesome problem, ac— cording to the ranking of sex relations in serious- 188 ness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. Adjustment of wives and of husbands in the area of spending the family income, according to total mon- thly income of the family. 139 Marital happiness according to the agreement of the couple over spending the family incbme, as reported by wives and by husbands. 197 marital happiness according tothe ranking of the area of spending the family income in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. 198 xiii . l I‘. III I‘/|\ ll..l||l|l.\ [fol |.-II I‘l||(|ll||\[[Il|l {flit-III"!!! .! All I! |\.‘|li|llllll|l‘ ,I TABLE: XVII XVIII XIX XXIII IST OF APPENDIX TABLES (Continued) PAGE: The seriousness with which separation has been consid— ered, according to the agreement of the couple in spending the family income, as reported by wives and by husbands. 199 The seriousness withwhich separation has been consid— ered according to the ranking of the area of spending the family income in seriousness as a problem, as re— ported by wives and by husbands. 200 The seriousness of the most troublesome problem accord- ing to the agreement of the couple.in spending the family income, as reported by wives and by husbands. 201 The seriousness of the most troublesome problem accord- Iing to the ranking of the area of spending the family income in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. 202 Marital happiness accordmg to the adjustment of the couple in training and disciplining the children, as reported by wives and by husbands. 209 Marital happiness according to the ranking of training and disciplining the children in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. 210 The seriousness with which separation has been consid- ered according to the adjustment of the couple in training anddisciplining the children, as reported by wives and by husbands with children. 211 LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES (Continued) TABLE: PAGE: XXIV The seriousness with which separation has been consid- ered according to the ranking of training and discip- lining the children in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands with children. 212 XXV The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the adjustment of the couple in training and disciplining the children, as reported by wives and by husbands with children. 213 XXVI The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the ranking of training and disciplining the children in seriousness as a problem, as report- ed by wives and by husbands with children. 21h XXVII Marital happiness according to the adjustment of the couple in in-law relationships, as reported by wives and by husbands. 222 XXVIII Marital happiness according to the ranking of in-law relationships in seriousness as a problem, as report- ed by Wives and by husbands. 223 XXIX The seriousness with which separation has been consid- ered according to the adjustment of the couple in in- law relationships, as reported by wives and by hus- bands. 22h XXX The seriousness with which separation has been consid- ered according to the ranking of in-law relationships in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. 225 TABLE: XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXVI XXXVII LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES (Continued) PAGE: The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the adjustment of the couple in in-law relationships, as reported by wives and by husbands. The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the ranking of in-law relationships in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. Marital happiness according to the agreement of the couple in social activities and recreation, as re— ported by wives and by husbands. Marital happiness according to the ranking of social activities and recreation in seriousness as a prob- lem, as reported by wives and by husbands. The seriousness with which separation has been con- sidered according to the adjustment of the couple in social activities and recreation, as reported by wives and by husbands. The seriousness with which separation has been con- sidered according to the ranking of social activifies and recreation in seriousness as a problem, as re- ported.by wives and by husbands. The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the adjustment of the couple in social activities and recreation, as reported by wives and by husbands. 226 227 235 236 23? 238 239 LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES (Continued) TABLE: PAGE: XLV Marital happiness according to the adjustment of the couple in the area of religion, as reported by wives and by husbands. 266 XLVI Marital happiness according to the ranking of religion in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. 267 XLVII The seriousness with which separation has been consid- ered according to the adjustment of the couple in re- ligion, as reported by wives and by husbands. 268 XLVIII The seriousness with which separation has been consid— ered according to the ranking of religion in serious- ness as a problem, as reported by wives and by hus- bands. 269 XLIX The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the adjustment of the couple in religion, as reported by ines and by husbands. 270 L The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the ranking of religion in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. 271 xviii CHAPTER I NTRODUCTION This is a study of the marital adjustment of Shh student families at Michigan State College in l9h6-7. The end of the war brought to the colleges an influx of students whose education had been delayed by the war. Many of these older students were married and so constituted a new problem for college administrators, for the typical student before the war was unmarried. The need was felt,then, for an examination of the problems peculiar to married college students, especially since many predicted that married students would continue to enter college for five or ten years, and others foresaw this as a permanent phenomenon. One aim.of the study was to obtain information which might be of value to administrators faced with a college population that included a large number of married people. Another was to secure material for building marriage and family living courses for all students. The study was also designed to provide insights into the problems that would probably be faced in the marriage counselling and guidance of college students. There were three phases to the problem. The first was to rate the happiness of the couples. In order to test this overall sat- isfacticn with marriage, the informants were asked to describe how serious a problem was their most troublesome area of disagreement; they were asked whether they had ever considered separating from.their spouse, and if so, hOW'seriously they had considered it; and they were requested 1. to describe how happy they were with their marriage. The second stage —-——” of study was to test seven areas of marital relationship as they were 1. Questions number 38, 39x and 39y in the questionnaire, Appendix II. associated with marital adjustment, as found by the three basic satis- faction questions. That is, were some areas more closely related or important to marital happiness than were others? The fields tested consisted of the adjustment of the couple in spending the family income, training and disciplining the children, in-law relationships, sex relations, religion, choice of mutual friends, and social activities and recreation.¥. The study includes a description of background elements of the sample. The factors studied most intensively were the age at marriage of the husband and wife, their education level, their income and spending, the length of time they had been married, whether or not they had children, and the circumstances under which they first met. The thizd phase of the problem.was an attempt to analyze the relationship of these background factors to overall marital satisfaction and to the more specific areas of adjustment. All data used in the study were obtained with an eight—page1 questionnaire,2. a copy of which was given to both the husband and wife of the couples participating. The instructions urged that husband and wife fill out their questionnaires independently and that they refrain from.examining their spouse's questionnaire. It was emphasized to the informants that the questionnaire was to be anonymous. Two-hundred fifty of the 360 couples living in the College Trailer Camp were contacted and none refused to cooperate. Each of 1. This is the main body of questionnaire. The questions used to test the different areas include numbers 31 through 56 and all their parts. 2. A copy of the questionnaire may be found in Appendix II. -3- these families was talked to before the questionnaire was left, and was encouraged to fill it out. All deliveries and interviews were made by this author. Another 309 pairs of questionnaires were given to Basic College students through the Effective Living classes. Either this writer or an Effective Living instructor explained the study in the classroom before the students were asked to take the questionnaires.‘ The students were never told to fill out the questionnaires, but the classroom situation undoubtedly made them feel some obligation to do so, even though they Were to be filled out anonymously and their instructor would never know who returned a questionnaire. A third means of distributing the questionnaires was through the mail. There was, of course, no opportunity to talk with the 779 couples contacted in this manner. It is relatively certain that 1330 questionnaires actually reached the hands of student couples. Out of the 560 pairs of question- naires returned, Shh were used. Sixteen pairs were discarded because they'were incomplete. The 560 constitute h2 percent of all couples contacted. It is known that 181 or 72 percent of the Trailer Camp couples who received questionnaires actually filled them out and returned them. No separate check was kept on the returns from the other two sources. It is known only that of the questionnaires dis- tributed either by mail or through the Effective Living classes, 57 percent were returned. The coded questionnaire data were transferred to International Business Machine cards. Three punch cards were used for each husband and each wife in the sample. The punching by individual rather than by couple permitted tabulations to be made of the sample of women, which could be compared with the information gained from tabulations of the -u- the sample of men. In addition, certain data from the wives' cards, such as overall marital satisfaction and adjustment in the seven areas of marital relationship, were punched onto the husbands' cards. This made it possible to examine the relationship between the adjustment of the husbands and their wives, and correlations were computed between . the reports made by the men and the reports made by their wives. While most of the data in the study have been quantitative, one source of information was qualitative. Included in the questions concerning adjustment in the seven areas of marital relationship were sixteen questions requesting the informants to elaborate on certain aspects of their adjustment in the areas. These responses provided background information for interpreting the quantitative reports on the degree of adjustment in the areas. The sample of men consists mainly of veterans. Of the whole group of 5th men, 525 had served in the Anned Forces. Thirty- four of the wives also were veterans. All of the husbands and 58 of the wives were attending college when the questionnaires were cempleted. Sixty-three percent of the wives had had some college training and 50 percent of all wives were graduates. Forty-eight percent of the women were doing some work outside the home, and most of these were working at least hO hours a week. The median amount of money available to these couples fer monthly spending was $190, $90 of this received automatically by all veteran families under the G. 1. Bill of Rights. Twenty-eight percent of the couples had children, but only 27 couples had as many as two children. The sample is younrr in comparison to the general married -5- population, though not young for a general college population. The median age at marriage for the wives in the group was just under 21 and for husbands, slightly over 22. The median length of time married was less than two years. These characteristics of the sample are all taken up in detail in the appropriate chapters of the thesis. CHAPTER II MARITAL SATISFACTICN One of the main problems of the study was to test the marital adjustment of the informants and to find which areas of marital relation- ship were most closely assochted with their overall adjustment. The detailed analysis of this problem, including all the tables, may be found in Appendix I. The current chapter summarizes these findings, and the reader may wish, at this stage of the reading, to content himself with this abridgement. Each informant was asked to rate how happy his marriage was, how seriously he had considered separating from his spouse, and how serious his major marital problem was. These three questions were all intended to test marital adjustment. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was partially dependent, than, upon whether those who reported their marriages to he Very Happy were also those who had never considered divorce and who had only insignificant marital problems. The responses to each of these adjustment questions were closely associated With the responses to the other two, so that there was some assurance that all three questions were testing the same problem. The first of the basic satisfaction questions asked whether the marriage was Very Happy, Happy, Average, Unhappy, or Very Unhappy. About three-fourths of the informants said they were Very Happy, slightly )( more wives than husbands reporting this. Other studies have also shown that self-rating happiness scales tend to elicit a preponderance of 1. reports that the marriages are very happy. Ability to make a success 1. See Table III, Appendix I, for a comparison of the happiness ratings for six studies. -7- of one's marriage may be such a powerful value in our society, (at least in the middle class), that people tend to rate their marital adjustment as they would like it to be or as they rationalize it to be. The tendency toward crowding at the upper end of the happiness scale is more extreme in the present study than in any of the others cited. This:K may be accounted for by the fact that the average length of marriage w among the college sample is shorter than that of any of the groups tested by others. It has been found in this study and others that those wh; have been married the shortest period of time are the most often satis— fied with their marriages. The large proportion of newlyweds, then, id; may help to explain the large number who report that they are Very ‘ Hap 93'. Further, it is possible that a college sample is biased as to happiness because of the very couples who come to school. Unhappy couples perhaps never enter. The average length of marriage is so short among the college group that divorce may not yet have weeded out the most unhappy couples, as it had in most of the older samples tested by others. But Hamilton took the opportunity to obtain a normal distribu- tion of happiness and unhappiness by including in his sample a group of divorcees. The current sample includes no couples who have remedied their extreme dissatisfaction by ending the marriage. Thexsecond of the basic adjustment questions concerned the seriousness with which divorce had been considered. Almost four-fifths of the informants checked that they had "never considered" separation, while the others said they had'not seriously, somewhat seriously," or ,N -8- "seriously" considered it. Unlike the question about the happiness of the marriage, the question concerning thoughts of divorce resulted in more reports of perfect satisfaction by husbands than by wives. It "\- should be noted, however, that a husband and his wife usually gave similar reports of their satisfaction. Coefficients of correlation were computed between the responses of husbands and the responses of wives to the questions concerning the happiness of the marriage, thdughts of separation, and the seriousness of the major problem. The r's were 1. all found to be over .5. (Table IV, Appendix I). In the third criterion of satisfaction, also, more husbands than wives said they had only insignificant marital problems. The informants X stated whether their major marital problem was "extremely," "quite," "moderately," or "not very serious," "trivial," or "not even worth men- tioning." About four-fifths replied that their problem was "not very serious," "trivial," or "not even worth mentioning." Seven areas of marital relationship were also investigated. The informants were asked to rate their adjustment in sex relations, training and disciplining their children, choosing friends, social activities and recreation, in—law relationships, spending the family income, and religion. They were further asked to describe their problems in each of these areas. The plan of investigation was to find whether some of these areas were more frequently reported as a source of difficulty than were other areas; whether some areas were more often named as the I. This is significant at the .01 level. -9- source of most serious trouble than were others; and whiher maladjust- ment in some of the areas was more often accompanied by overall marital maladjustment as the informants themselves described it in the three basic adjustment questions. Each of the seven areas of marital adjustment will be con- sidered separately. The discussions of the areas will include a descrip- tion of the specific problems that couples encounter in the areas, an enumeration of the relative proportions who report difficulties in the various areas, and an analysis of the relative importance that maladjust- ments in each of the seven areas of relationship have in the overall marital relationship. Sex relations Sex is considered a basic bond between the husband and wife, and if a satisfactory relationship in sex cannot be developed, it leads the two to think that they have made a failure of the entire marriage. It is a relationship in which the husband and wife are very dependent upon one another. There is no other accepted outlet or means of taking care of this sex need which will still maintain a satisfactory marriage relationship. If the partners do not make an arrangement that is satis- factory for both of hem in sex relations, disappointment is bound to follow, for the type of adjustment made in sex consists,in part, of an emotional tone that colors all relationships of husband and wife. These are reasons why a close relatiOnship would be eXpected between the adjustment that the informants report in sex relations and the overall marital satisfaction that they report in the three basic adjustment questions. In this sample, adjustment in no other area was found to be as closely associated with general marital satisfaction as was adjustment in sex relations. There were other areas in which more informants reported imperfect adjustments, but there were no areas in which imperfect adjustment was so often accompanied by reports of marital unhappiness, thoughts of divorce, and the presence of a serious problem. This relationship may be seen in Tables VIII through XIII, (Appendix I). The coefficient of correlation of4-.389 for husbands and +3362 for wives between reported happiness and adjustment in sex relations is the closestrelationship found of all the areas. (Table VI, Appendix I).1. However, when the informants were asked to name the areas in which they had the greatest difficulty, four other areas were listed more frequently as the major problem.or as one of the first three most serious problems than was sex relations. (Table VII). There may be sufficient social pressure to work out an adequate arrangement in sex 1. Levels of significance for the coefficients of correlation were taken from Table 16, "Significant Values of r, 75, and t," in H. Wallace and G. Snedecor, Correlation and Machine Calculation, 1931, Ames Iowa. All but one correlation inwthe-present study was based on from 536 to EMS cases. With 502 cases, an r of .088 would occur by chance 5 times in 100, and an r of .115, once in 100. The lowest r found was .198. One coefficient of correlation was based on 1L3 cases and the result was .500. For this N, the significant value of r at the .05 level is .l7h and at the .01 level, .228. Thus, all correlations reported are mathematically very significant. The formula for r: r . “—‘H... A .. (am v4.12“: (an); Modified Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation, page 8, Wallace and Snedecor. -11.. relations to keep many people from admitting even to themselves that they have a disturbance in this area, while they would feel no shame or reluctance about revealing maladjustment in other areas. This mechanism would at least operate to prevent everyone but those with extremely serious sex problems from reporting a maladjustment in this area. This would explain why a high relationship was found between a reported maladjustment in sex relations and overall marital satisfaction, even though only a moderate proportion of the informants reported a maladjust- ment or listed sex relations as a major problem. A higher correlation was also found between the adjustment of the husband and the adjustment of the wife in sex relations, than in any other area. (Table IV, Appendix I). The fact that an imperfect adjust- ment of one spouse is more often followed, in sex relations than in any other area, by an imperfect adjustment of the other spouse, is probably due to the intimacy of this relationship. Dissatisfaction with the partner in sex relations cannot be easily concealed. When a problem was described in the area of sex relations, it usually concerned a difference in drive. And it was almost always the husband who complained that his wife was not passionate enough or that she did not want intercourse as often as he. One fifth of the men but only two or three percent of the women made a complaint of this nature. Further, only one tenth of the wives and almost no husbands, made the opposite complaint«that their husbands were too interested in sex relations. This probahly means that one-half of the men who found _]_2- their wives too cold sexually had spouses who were unaware of their own inadequacy. Another complaint concerned the time spent in building up to intercourse: the wives regretted that their spouses were too fast and some husbands that their wives were too slow in reaching an orgasm. Other husbands commented that their spouses were too timid or inhibited about sex. Wives complained that their husbands refused to discuss sex with them. Spending the family income The adjustment that couples had in the area of spending the family income was not found to be positively related to the amount of income they had. It may be that the conscious efforts at cooperation that must be made to stretch a small income are just as effective in producing a good adjustment in this area as is the freedom from worry that accompanies a large income. This lack of relationship between amount of income and adjustment in regard to income may be a unique characteristic of newly married couples. When they are "just getting started," there is not such a feeling of disgrace at having a small income. Later in marriage, this insecurity may not be tolerated without complaint. In this sample, a large income usually means that the wife is working 0! and this may be a source of conflict in some families if the husband or wife can not adjust to this shift in the roles of the sexes. The complaints that the informants described indicated that many of the -13- problems in the area of spending the money did center around the roles that the sexes played in regard to the income. Wives frequently com- plained that their spouses were too saving, while the usual complaint of husbands was that the wife was extravagant. The role of the husband as holder of the purse was evidently still operative in some families of the sample. Even though all the family's needs must come out of the one budget, and the wife as well as the husband would suffer if too much was spent, it was still the husband who clutched the purse and the wife who cajoled for more spending. The retention of this division is the more interesting since the wives were the major money earners in so many of the families. The husbands drew'$90 a month, but many wives earned twice that amount. Further, the wives sometimes reported that their spouses were dictatorial about the money, while husbands never made this complaint. Some husbands were annoyed that their wives reminded them that they (the wives) earned the money. 'Whut is the significance of problems in the area of spending a the fmnily income to overall marital adjustment? First, more husbands and wives listed this area as their most troublesome problem and as one of their three most troublesome problems, than any other area. But this fact, in itself, does not reveal whether income was more often listed as the major problem.by people with serious maladjustments or by those with only insignificant troubles, or by equal proportions of both those with serious and those with trivial problems. A coefficient of correlation was computed between the adjustment in the area of spending the family income and reported marital happiness. The r'S'were+;251 for _ 1! - husbands and-+.209 for wives. While these correlations are significant, only one other area revealed as low relationship between adjustment in the area and reported happiness. That is, not as many of those who were dissatisfied with their marriages had poor adjustments in the area of spending the income as had poor adjustments in other areas. Tables XV through XX in Appendix I also Show the relationship between adjustment in the area of spending the family income or the ranking of this area in seriousness as a problem, and reported happiness, thoughts of divorce, and the seriousness of the major problem. These tables reveal a relation- ship lower than that for any area except religion and choice of friends. A further fact is that fewer men and women reported an imperfect adjust- ment in spending the income than in any other area and almost none had an extreme maladjustment. Thus, to summarize, compared to other areas, spending the income seems to be a problem to but few, and although many couples claim that it is their major source of difficult , the people who report this usually have pp troubles that are very serious. There was probably a tendency for individuals with fairly good marital adjustments to list problems in the area of Spending the family income if they could think of no other type of problem to list. They may have felt that they should report some problem in order to appear cooperative to the QUestioners. Training and disciplining the children The men and.women who reported maladjustments in the area of training and disciplining the children usually complained that their - 15 _ spouses were not fulfilling a role that they thought a parent of either sex should fulfill. The wives either reported that their husbands were too harsh with the children or that the husbands did not pay enough attention to the children. The husbands complained that the wives were too lenient and that they did not discipline the children. The men wanted their wives to share the role of parent that has traditionally been assigned to the father: that of disciplining the child. The wives wanted their husbands to share the role of loving, being tender, and playing with the child. Both men and women revolted against their spouses' not living up to this generalized role of parenthood which they thought mother and father should share. Thirty-two percent of the couples have children. Of these 17h couples, 75 wives and 70 husbands report imperfect adjustments in only one other area than in the area of training the children. But proportionately more husbands had imperfect adjustments in four other areas than in training the children. And only the area of spending the family income showed a proportionately smaller number of men or women with extreme maladjustments. The area of training and disciplining the children is listed as the major problem, and as one of the fir$ three most serious problems, by more men and women than is any other area except spending the income. But again, as in spending the income, the area of training the children is often ranked as the major problem by those who do not have 3g! serials difficulties. There is a definite positive relationship between adjust- ment in this area and reported happiness, thoughts of separation, and -15- presence of a serious problem. But those who register dissatisfaction by these three basic questions are nOt.E§ regularly those with malad- justments in training the children, as they are those with maladjustments in other areas. This, again, may be a characteristic of newly married people. Many of the children are still babies and perhaps not yet a serious source of conflict for their parents. In-law relationships The adjustment that the informants had in the area of in-law relationships was found to be quite closely related to their overall marital adjustment. This was especially true of the wives. More women stated that they had imperfect adjustments, and more said they had serious maladjustments in the area of in-law relationships than in any other area. The husbands did not report in-law maladjustments of all degrees of seriousness in this area as often as in several other areas, and they reported serious maladjustments less frequently than in two other areas. In-law relationships was also listed as the area causing the most trouble and as one of the three most troublesome areas by a very large number of both women and men. Only the areas of children and income were listed more frequently. The question, again, is whether this area was reported as a problem more frequently by those with serious marital maladjustments or by those who are well adjusted. Tables XXVII through XXXII in Appendix I show the relationship between adjustment in in-law relation- ships and reported happiness, thoughts of divorce, and the seriousness -17.. of the major problem. Among the wives, even adjustment in the area of sex relations is probably not as closely related to general marital satisfaction as is adjustment in in-law relationships. That is, those wives who have difficulties in in-law relationships usually also report general dissatisfaction with their marriage. Among the husbands, only the adjustment in the area of sex relations is more closely related to marital satisfaction than is adjustment in in—law relationships. The coefficient of correlation that was computed between reported happiness and adjustment in this area was 43267 for the husbands and +.2llo for the wives. While significant, this correlation is lower than that for all the other areas except income. This does not mean that only a minor relationship exists but only that a few extreme cases have lowered the correlation: there were some individuals who reported a very poor adjustment in this area but who were satisfied with their general marital situation. The interference of these few cases prevent the coefficient of correlation from accurately representing the relation- ship. For the tables have shown that, for the most part, these who were satisfied with their marriage were also well adjusted in in-law relation- ships. It is thought, then, that problems in the area of in-law relation- ships were more often of serious concern to the women who have them than were problems in any other area, that more of the wives did have problems in this area than in any other area, and that among the husbands, only in the area of sex relations were problems more frequently present, and when present, more frequently accompanied by marital dissatisfaction. What type of disagreements are these in-law problems that are so disrupting and so prevalent? The most frequent type of comphint made -18- by both men and'women was that the spouse was too interested in his parents or was too dependent upon them for guidance. A large number of husbands and wives also resented the fact that their spouse was not nice to the complainant's parents. A few men and women complained because they were not allowed by their spouse to be as close to their own parents as they would like to be. A report made more often by wives was that their spouse was not nice to them.(the wives) in front of in-laws. More husbands, on the other hand, complained that their wives were not courteous or kind to their (the wives') own parents. Social activities and recreation The adjustment that the husbands and wives of this sample achieve in their social and recreational interaction would be expected to be closely related to their total marital satisfaction. First, the sample consists of people who had just recently come to a new neighborhood. They were uprooted from their associations when they came to college, and some of them had moved more than once since they came to college. Even in the consolidated College housing project, there was an atmos- phere of "temporariness" in which few people made much effort to develop ties with others. The fact that these couples had not been settled in a neighborhood for long, and the climate of transiency that prevailed when they did settle in a neighborhood at the College, resulted in the husband's and wife's participating just with one another in social activities and recreation. They depended upon one another for this type of activity. If they could not make a satisfactory adjustment, -19- there was no men's social clique waiting for the husband, or women's group for the wife. Other couples were not even always ready to par- ticipate with them as a couple. Further, the probably middle class background of these couples would have conditioned them.to eXpect to go out together as a couple, at least in the early years of marriage. In the middle class, the man and wife have the same social personality: antagonism toward or friendship with one partner usually includes the other partner, more than in other classes. Wives join auxiliaries of their husbands' associations, and this emphasizes the social identity. This situation is connected with the middle class sentiment and practice that marriage is a permanent union which makes the man and woman one.l. Thus, the r's of‘+3586 for husbands and-+251h for wives, found between reported marital happiness and adjustment in social activities and recreation, would be expected. Further, Tables XXXIII through XXXVIII Show the relationship between adjustment in social activities and recreation and reported happiness, thoughts of divorce, and the seriousness of the major problem, and also the relationsmp between these three basic satisfaction questions and the ranking that the in- formants gave to the area of social activities and recreation as a problem. These statistical techniques show that adjustment in this 1. Davis, Allison, Gardner, Burleigh B., and Mary R., Deep South, l9hl, Chicago. P.102. -20... area is more closely related to general marital satisfaction than is adjustment in any other area except sex relations and probably, in- law relationships. That is, disturbances in social activities and recreation are more often accompanied by overall dissatisfaction with the marriage than are difficulties in four other areas tested. More husbands report extreme maladjustments in social activ- ities and recreation than in any other area. But fewer wives reported very poor adjustments in this area than in several other areas. And fewer reports of imperfect adjustments of all degrees of seriousness were registered by both men and women in the area of social activities than in three other areas. Also three other areas are listed more frequently, as the major and one of the first three major sources of discord in the home. This does not necessarily mean that social activi- ties and recreation ranks only fourth among the areas for its relatiandfip :2 general marital satisfaction. It ranks fourth only for the number of people who complain about it. The correlations and the tables have shown that these relatively few men and women who make complaints are really quite seriously dissatisfied with their marriages. Social activities rates third among the areas for the degree of relationship with marital satisfaction. The type of problem that the informants describe as troubling them.in the area of social activities and recreation is usually concerned with a difference in the type of activity in which the spouses like to Participate. The wives frequently criticize that their husbands do not like to dance or that their spouses are too interested in sports. The -21.. men respond that their wives are not sufficiently sports—minded. Some men and women report that their spouses are unskilled in handling social situations or in participating in recreational activities, and some wives complain that their husbands go off and leave them alone, and some husbands say that their wives will not let them go out with "the boys." Choice of friends In the area of choice of friends, the most frequently voiced complaints were that the spouse was not poked or that he or she was not nice to friends. Quite a few men and women also complain that their spouse pays too much attention to friends and not enough attention to him or her. Only a few husbands and wives report that their trouble lies in a disagreement over who shall be their friends. Problems in the area of choice of friends were not thought, by the informants, to be very important in causing discord in their homes. Fewer'wives listed this area as the major source of trouble or as one of the three major sources of difficulty than listed any other area. Only the area of religion was thought to be unimportant in causing dis— cord by more men than was the choice of friends. Kevertheless, there vmwe three percent of the women and five percent of the men who did think that this area was the major source of discord. Relatively few men or women reported imperfect adjustments in ‘the area of choice of friends, compared to the other areas. Adjustment only in the area of spending the family income was less frequently found to be imperfect. -22... The relationship between marital satisfaction and adjustment in choice of friends is also found to be rather distant cmnpared to other areas. Only in the area of religion is a poor adjustment less regularly accompanied by general marital dissatisfaction than in the area of choice of friends. Among husbands, the relationship between choice of friends and overall marital adjustment is slightly closer than the relationship for wives. The coefficient of correlation between adjustment in choice of friends and reported happiness indicates a closer relationship than that between some other areas but it is a much lower relationship than that between happiness and the areas of sex and social activities. Thus, not only do the informants less frequently report problems in dealing Math friends than in other areas, but they are less often unhappy'with their marriage when they do have disagreements about friends. Religion Most of the complaints in the area of religion center around the different amount of interest shown by the spouses in religious matters. A large number of wives are discontented because their husbands are not religious enough. A smaller proportion of the husbands make the complaint that their spouses are not sufficiently interested in religion, but more husbands make this criticism than say their wives are too religious. A 'very small number of wives found their spouses too interested in religion. The values of the society support those who are religious. The irreligious may'not think they have the right to complain about theareligiousness of others. This may be one reason why the spouses of those who lament the lack of religion in their mates do not voice a distrste for too much religion. Also, the religious person judges others from moral grounds, and considers those who do not believe as not only incorrect but as immora , end.therefore, to be reformed. The other major type of problem was thet the spouses could not agree over ghigh religion w:s the "right" one, but fewer reported this type of complaint than said their interest in religion was not the same . The area of religion was found to be of less significance '1 in overall marital adjustment than any of the seven areas tested. In some of the areas it was found that while many of the informants listed the area as one of their major problems, these people were not very maladjusted in their total marriage situetion. On the other hand, in other areas, only a few said the area was a major source of difficulty, but those who reported this were very unhappy in their marital problems. In religion, however, fewer wives listed this area as their major problem or as one of their first three major problems, than listed any other area except friends. Among the husbands, no other area she thought to be troublesome by so few. Furth r, the coefficient of correlation between reoorted honoiness and adjustment in religion is-+.245 for husbands and-+.l98 for wives. This relationshio is lower than for any other area. Tables VL through L in Aooendix I also indicate that there is a less significant rela- tionship between religion and reported happiness, thoughts of divorce, and the seriousness of the major problem, than for any other area. It is found that a large number of men and women report the their adjustment with their spouse in religion is imperfect. Only in the -21” area of sex do more men and in in—law relationships do more women report imperfect adjustments. These maladjustments cannot be considered to have as much bearing upon marital adjustment as disagreements in other areas. It has already been shown that imperfect adjustment in the area of religion is not as often accompanied by general marital dissatisfaction as is imperfect adjustment in any other area. It will further be recalled that most of the religious disagreements centered around dif- ferences in the degree of religious interest. Few couples argued about fine points of doctrine, but only whether they should bother with religion at all or not. This may signify that religion is closely integrated into the other aspects of their lives, and that disagreements about religion are differences in an area that is of little significance in their lives. §m® \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \ § §\\\\\\\\\\\\ § k §\ m\\\\\\\ a \\\\\\\ mmmmmm CHAPTER III AGE AND EDUCATION Age at marriage and relative age of husband and wife. Figure A shows the proportions in certain age groups at the time of marriage of the 5hh.men and 5bh.women in the sample. There are more wives in each of the three categories that include the ages between 17 and 21. The husbands predominate in all the groups from 22 or older. Seventy percent of the men married by the age of 23 while 85 percent of the women were married by this time. The median marrying age for the men (22.2), was 1.3 years older than that for the women (20.9). There were 55 men and 19 women who married as late as age 28. At the opposite end of the scale, there were 58 husbands but 125 wives who were married by the age of 19. Some figures on the actual age differences between husband and wives will clarify this picture. TABLE I: A e differential b tw h b d - - Age differential g e 08H Us an s and leeS between husbands _ and wives Number of couples . % of couples H. and W} same age 105 19 H. 1-2 yrs older 206 58 H. B-L yrs older 8h 16 H. 5 yrs older 27 5 H. 6 yrs older 7 l H. 7-8 yrs older 10 2 H. 9 or mon3older h 1 V3 1-2 yrs older 79 15 W. 3 or more older 18 3 Ninety—nine wives are older than their spouses as compared to the 558 cases in which the husband is older. But while there are as many as 290 men who exeed their wives by l to h years, there are only h8 Who are older by more than four ears. The most common single _ 26 _ category is the one in which the husband is one or two years older than his wife. There are almost twice as many in this one group as there are of the type where husband and wife are of the same age. About the same number of marriages in which the wife is older (99) are present in the sample as marriages where husband and wife are the same age (105). Age and marital satisfaction Table 5 shows the relationship between self-rated marital satisfaction and the age married. The wives who married at the age of 22 or older more frequently report that they are Very Happy than do the wives who married when they were younger than 22. Seventy-two percent of the wives who married at the age of 19 or younger say they are Very Happy, 7h percent who married at 20 or 21, but 85 percent of those married at 22 or 25, and 80 percent of the ones who didn't marry until 2A or older, are Very Happy. Further, 15 percent more of the wives who married at age 2h or older than of those who married at 19 or earlier, say they have "never considered" separating from their husbands. And there are even 8 percent more of those wives who married at 22 or 25 than of those who married at 20 or 21 who have "never considered" 1. (See next page) divorce. The wives who married at an early age also more frequently say they have serious problems while those who married when they were older more often do not have serious problems. There is a difference between each cell in the table with each older age grade having a larger proportion of "trivial" or "not worth mentioning" problems than the age grade below it, and each younger age grade having a larger proportion II I! I of "extremely, quite,‘ or "moderately serioug problems or "not very serious" problems than the older age grade that follows it. Twenty- three percent more of the wives who married when they were 2h or older have problems that are not worth mentioning than do the wives who married at 19 or younger. The median marriage age for this group of wives was 20.9 years, and the average for all wives in the United States is 21.6 years, accord- ing to the l9h0 census. Since the college population usually marries later, rather than sooner than the rest of the population, the members of the sample probably have behaved in a manner decidedly different from 1. The following table will enable the reader to find the significance of any percentage difference discussed in the thesis. Confidence limits at the .99 and .90 levels are given. These figures were taken from Figures ML and L5 of Hadley Cantril's Gauging Public Opinion, Princeton, l9hh. In the current chapter, the significance of percentage differences has been supplied with each table. SIGNIFICANCE OF PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCES N of N of Percentage difference necessary Egpulation 1: population 2: for significance at levels: :91. .10 5o 50 25.6 16.3 50 100 22.3 114.2 50 200 20.5 13 50 500 19.5 12.7 100 100 18.7 11.8 100 200 16 10.2 100 300 1h.8 9.6 200 200 15 8.2 200 500 12 7.5 500 500 10.7 7 -28.. 1. the normal behavior of their class. This may have been too young for people with middle class training to marry. However, age at marriage may not be directly associated with marital happiness, but may merely di-f,rentiate those who did not attend college from those who spent some of their marriageable years in college. It is known that those who attend college, in general, marry at a later age than those who do not attend college. And one reason for this is merely the time it takes to get a college education. Thus, the college education may be associated with marital happiness, while marrying at a late age only identifies those who have gone to college. Therefore, the women in this sample who did not attend college were tested to see whether they were any more unhappy when they married young than when they married old. TABLE 2: Reported happiness of wives with no college education according to age married. Age married (wives): V/iry Hjlqppy % Happy # {averaglg E 17 to 19 *63251- (L5) 31 (22) 6 (1+) (71) 20 to 21‘ .73 (58) 1h (10) 8 (6) (7h) 22 to 23 89,54 (26) ( 2) h (1) (29) 2h or over 92fi= (22) 8 ( 2) 0 (0) (2b) 198 * The difference between 65 and 78 percent is significant at the .10 level. # The differencasbetween 63 and 89 and 63 and 92 percent are significant at the .01 level. 1. It has been assumed that the major proportion of this sample consists of indiViduals who are of middle class background. The only fact that can be offered in support of this assumption is their college background. Some of the husbands are attending college for the first time, under the G. I. Bill of Rights, but many of the men and women had begun their college training before this Government assistance was offered. -29.. The age at marriage of the non-college women is as directLy associated with their marital happiness as for the college women. In the four marriage age groupings, the smalleazproportion of Very Happy cases occurs in the youngest marriage age group: 65 percent; 78 per- cent of those who married at 20 to 21 are Very Happy, 89 percent who married at 22 to 23, and 92 percent of those who married no younger than age 2h are Very Happy. Even though both the group of college women and the non-college group were more often found to be happy when they married at a more ad- vanced age, it is not possible to conclude that marriage age is important to the happiness of all groups or classes of women. For the only certain difference between the two groups tested is the presence or absence of college training. The women who neverimnfizto college may have been just as strongly imbued with the middle class values of getting a college education and of not marrying too young. On the other hand, a sample of lower class women might reveal that more of them.were prepared to marry at age 19 or 20. Ten percent more of the husbands who married at age 2h or older than of those who married at 19 or younger, say they are Very Happy in their marriage. But those who married at 20 to 21 or 22 to 23 include just about as large a proportion of Very Happy husbands as does the group who married at 2h or older. Fifteen percent more of the husbands who married at 2h or older than of those who married at 19 or younger, report that they have n . . . never con51dered" separating from their spouses. And 5 percent more -30.. who married at 22 to 23 than of those who married at 20 to 21 have never considered divorce. Thus, there seems to be a slight relationship between age at marriage of husbands and their thoughts about separation. Thirty-six percent of the 39 husbands who married at 19 or earlier, hh.percent who married at 20 to 21, and h} percent who married at 22 to 23, have "trivial" problems or problems "not worth mentioning." The differences between these three marriage age groups are not signifi- cant. But 55.5 percent of the husbands who married at 2h or older have no problem at all or only "trivial" ones. That is, the only group of husbands who have significantly fewer serious problems are those who married as late as age 2h. It is k own that the marriage age for husbands in this sample is 1.5 years older than that for wives. And among LL} of the Shh couples in this sample, the husband is the same age or older than the wife. Further, the wives are most frequently Very Happy when they married at 22 to 23 or 2h or older. Thus, the largest proportion of Very Happy husbands would be expected in the group who harried at age 2h or older, and certainly no younger than 22 to 23. That is, since the average marriage age for husbands is older than the average for wives, and since the Very Happy women are usually those who marry late, it might be assumed that the Very Happy husbands would most frequently be those who married as much later than the average age for husbands as the Very Happy Wives married later than the average marriage age for wives. This might also he exPected from the fact that Very Happy husbands are usually married to Very Happy wives. (The coefficient of correlation between happiness of husbands and happiness of wives is-+3557.) The difference -31.. o between the proportion of young marrying husbands,and the proportion of older marrying husbands who are satisfied with their marriages is not very significant mathematically, because of the small number of men who married at age 19 or younger. Larger percentage differences are neces- sary with such a small N to insure that the differences are not due to. chance. While no generalizations can be drawn from the present data about the happiness of men who married at different ages, it is possible ‘ ' . . la,lb,lc. that Significant differences could have been found with a larger group. la. Terman credited 1 point to the happiness score of a husband if he were married at age 22 or over and 1 point to the score of a wife if she were married at 20 or older. lb. Hart, Hornell, and W. Shields, "Happiness in relation to age at marriage," Journal of Social Hygiene, 1926, 12, hO5-h08. Report on caseS'who Fa‘me to the Philadelphia Court of Domestic Relations: women who marry before 20 and men before 21 are more often unhappy in marriage than those who marry later. lc. Kirkpatrick, C., "Factors in Marital Adjustment," American Journal of Sociology, 1957, L5, p. 270—285. He found no relationship be- tween the age at marriage and the length of time the marriage lasted. He examined divorced couples. -32.. TABLE 3 Marital happiness, the seriousness with which separation has been considered, and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, according to age married, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: Age married 17 to 19 20 to 21 22 to 23 2h or over geported happiness: % :# % #: % 1# % :# Venv happy 72 (89) *7h. (1&9) *85 (105) 80 (76) Happy 211 (29) 20 ( 1+0) 13 ( 16) 16 (15) Average h. ( 5) 6 ( 12) 2 ( 3) h. § h) N = (323) 201 Zléfi) 95 Seriousness with which separation has been considered: Never considered #71 ( 87) **7h. (lhB) **82 (102) éfih. (80) Not seriously 22 ( 27) 18 ( 57) 13 ( 16) 10 ( 9) Somewhat seriously 7 ( 9) 8 ( 16) 5 ( 6 ) 6 ( 6) or seriously N = (123) (201) (12h) (95) Seriousness of problem {5% 1: Extremely, quite, or moderately 2o ( 52) 21.3 ( ha) 18.5 ( 25) 17 - (16) Not very serious 35 ( A5) 51-h ( 63) 25 ( 31) 16 (15) Trivial . ( 51) 26 ( 52) 27-5 ( 5h) 30 (29) Not'worth mention ##lh ( 17) 21.3 ( M5) 29 ( 36) =%#57 (3 5) N : (125) (201) ~(1 ) (95) * The difference between 7h percent and 85 percent is significant at the .10 level. #’ The difference between 71 and 8h percent is significant at the .10 level. ** Difference significant at the .10 level. ##‘Difference significant at .01 level. -33.. TABLE 3 Marital happiness, the seriousness with which separation has been considered, and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, according to age married, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by husbands: Age married 17 to 19 Reported happiness: % =# Very happy *62 (2h) Average 0 ( h) N : (59) Seriousness with which separation has been consid- ered: Never considered #69 (27) Not seriously 23 ( 9) Somewhat seriously 8 ( 3) N : (39) Seriousness of p roblemfi# 1: Extremely, quite, or moderately. 21 ( 8) Not very serious 13 ( l7) Trivial 28 (111) Not worth mention ** 8 ( 3) N = (59) 20 to 21 % =# 71 (126) 22 ( 39) 7 ( 12) (177) 77 (136) 15 ( 23) 10 ( 18) (177) 2h. ( AB) 32 ( 56) 28 ( b9) 16 ( 29) (177) 22 to 23 % =# 70 (11L) 22 ( 35) 8 ( 13) (162) 82 (132) 13 ( 21) 5 ( 9) (162) 22 ( 36) 35 ( 56) 22 ( 56) 21 ( 3h) 2h or over % #72 23 =#8h 5 =# (120) ( 58) (166) (139) ( 18) ( 9) (166) * The difference between 62 and 72 percent is not significant at the .10 level, with the N's involved. .# The difference is significant at the .10 level. ** The difference between 56 and 55.5 percent is significant at the .05 level. -21)“. In what areas of marital relationship are those men and women who marry late better adjusted than those who marry at an earlier age? Or, are the older marrying people no better prepared before they marry than are those who marry young? Tables h and 5 reveal that both husbands and wives include a substantially larger proportion Who have perfect adjustments when they marry late, in the areas of spending the family income and in-law relationships. Thirteen percent more of the husbands who waited until age 2h or older to marry, have perfect agreements with their spouses over income than do those who married at ages 17 to 19. And more of the 2h or older group than of either of the other two age groups (20 to 21 or 22 to 23 ), have perfect adjustments. Among the wives, 6 percent more who married at 2h or older than of those who married at 17 or 19 or of those who married at 20 to 21, have perfect agreements. It can be seen that the age at marriage makes more difference to the men than to the women in the adjust- ment that they report for spending the income. It has been seen that a managerial role is played by a large number of the men in money matters, even though many of the wives in this sample are the major wage earners. Therefore, experience with handling money and managing an income would be of greater importance to a man's adjustment in financial matters than it would be to the woman, whose role does not require that she make as many decisions concerning money. In-law relations, on the other hand, are significantly -35- more often smooth among those women who married late than among those who married young. Eighteen percent more of the 95 wives who married at 2h or older have "excellent" adjustments with their spouses over in-laws than of those women who married at 17 to 19. But the main difference is between those who married at 21 or younger and those married at 22 or older. The explanation for this difference may be that those who married late waited for some time after they first met their prospective mate before marrying him. This provided an opportunity for them to get to know and like their future in—laws before marriage. Further, individuals who married late had already begun their emancipation from parental control even before marriage. Parents regarded them as mature and had probably not tried to interfere in their lives for some time before marriage. For husbands, the differences are slightly smaller, but still substantial. And, again, the most significant dif- ference is between the two younger age grades (17 to 19 and 20 to 21) and the two older ones (22 to 23 and 2h or older). In sex relations, there is found to be a larger pro- portion of husbands with "excellent" adjustment for the two older marriage age grades than for the two younger ones. Such findings are not evident among the women, for 6 percent more of those who married at 17 to 19 have "excellent" sex adjustments than of those who married at 20 to 21. A possible explanation, (though one that is not necessarily applicable to this group, since the difference -56— is so small), is that those who were more interested in sex, married at an early age to satisfy their strong desire. The sex satisfaction that these women experience might be the thing that keeps them satisfied with their marriage. The two younger marriage age grades of women are less often well adjusted in the area of social activities and recre- ation. Seven percent fewer of those marrying at 17 to 19 than of those who waited until 2h or older, have perfect agreements in this area. The later marriages might actually be the more care- fully considered unions. Marrying late and dating for those extra years with many persons of the opposite sex, may provide valuable experience in judging the opposite sex, so that a more intelligent decision can be made, and a mate can be selected who will be compatible with one's personality and way of life. Among the husbands, the difference is not evident in this area, but it does shOW'up in the area of choice of friends. Those who waited to marry until they were at least 2h, have perfect adjustments in choosing friends 18 percent more frequently than those who married at 17 to 19 and 10 percent more often than those who married at 20 to 21. If those who marry late do benefit from the extra years they have in which to date many people, and this extra experience does help them to make a more intelligent choice of mate,then this fact may account for the difference among the women who married old and those who married young in the proportion with perfect religion adjustments. The 123 who married by age 19 -57.. have ' 'excellent" adjustments in this area 10 to 12 percent less frequently than do those who married later. Compatability of religions might be one factor that is not considered very care- fully by those who marry young, while it is weighed by those who have waited to marry. Furthermore, religion adjustment is not just a harmony of ideas about the sacred. Another important aspect of this adjustment is religion as a representative of 'HhiWhfleculture pattern or way of life of the individual. The number of people with children is too small to obtain certain results about adjustment in training and dis— ciplining the children according to age married. _ 38 - TABLE 4: Adjustment of the wives in the seven areas of marital relationship according to the age at which they were married, as reported by wives: Areas of Excellent Good Fair, poor, .15. adjustment by or very poor age married: % {I % f f r Spending income: Ages 17 to 19 74 ( 91) 23 (29) 3 ( 3) (123) 20 to 21 74 ( 149) 25 (51) 1 ( 2) (202) 22 to 23 77.5 ( 96) 20 (25) 2.5 ( 3) (124) 24 or older 80 ( 76) 19 (18) 1 ( 1) (522% In-law relations: - Ages 17 to 19 *45 ( 55) 34 41) 21 (26; (122) 20 to 21 51 (101) 33 74) 11 22 197 22 to 23 60 ( 74) 28 (34) 12 (15) (133) 24 or older '63 ( 59) 30 (28) 7 ( 5) {33%} Sex relations: Ages 17 to 19 62 ( 75) 29 (35) 9 (11) (122) 20 to 21 56 (114) 35 (70) 8.5 (17) (201) 22 to 23 58.5 ( 72) 33 (4o) 9 (12) (124) 24 or older 50 ( 55) 32 31) 8 ( 8) (5&3) Religion: Ages 17 to 19 #47 ( 58) 34 (42) 19 (23) (12%) 20 to 21 58 (116) 33 (56) 9 (19) 304 22 to 23 59 ( 73) 32 (39) 9 (12) (135) 24 or older #57 ( 54) 30.5 (29) 12.5 (12) '(643) Choice of friends: Ages 17 to 19 64 ( 79) 30 (37) 6 ( 7) (261) 20 to 21 62 (124) 36 (73) 2 < 4) (124) 22 to 23 68 ( 83) 30 8?) 3 ( 4) 95 24 or older 65 ( 52) 30 (28) 5 ( 5) '(323) Social activities and recreation: Ages 17 to 19 58 ( 71) 35 (43) 7 ( 9) (123) 25 to 21 #56 (114) 39 (78) 5 (lo) (202) 22 to 23 61.5 ( 76) 35.5 (44) 3 E 4) _ (124) 24 or older #65 ( 62) 35 (53) o 0) W 522) Training children: f Ages 17 to 19 15 ( 18) 16 (19) 1 ( 1) 68 ( 80) (118) 20 to 21 18 ( 35) 9 (18) 1 ( 2) 72 (141) (196) 22 to 23 19 ( 23) 7 ( 8) 2 ( 3) 72 ( 88) (122) . 24 or older 12 ( lo) 9 ( 8) 1 ( 1) 78 ( 74) 93 529 ' The difference between 45 and 63 percent is significant at the .01 level. '# The difference is significant at the .10 level. TABLE 5: Adjustment of husbands in the seven areas of marital relationship according to the age at which they were married, as reported by husbands: Areas of Excellent adjustment by age married % 4 Spending income: Ages 17 to 19 7o ( 5) 20 to 21 79 (141) 22 to 23 972 (117) 24 or older I"83 (138 In-law relations: Ages 17 to 19 64 ( 23) 20 to 21 l'5‘7""'(101) 22 to 23 67"(107) 24 or older #71 (114) Sex relations: Ages 17 to 19 56 ( 20) 20 to 21 ##53.5( 95) 22 to 23 57, ( 92) 24 or older##61 (101) Religion: Ages 17 to 19 **44 ( 16) 20 to 21 61 (109) 22 to 23 64 (104; 24 or older"63.5 105 Choice of friends: Ages 17 to 19 I""‘42 ( 15) 20 to 21 50 ( 89) 22 to 23 55 ( 89) 24 or older‘*60 (100) Social activities and recreation: Ages 17 to 19 l""‘39 ( 14) 20 to 21 51 ( 90) 22 to 23 *955 ( 89) 24 or older 49.3( 82) Training children Ages 17 to 19 25 ( 9) 20 to 21 *‘25 ( 44) 22 to 23 "13 ( 20) 24 or older 13 ( 21) .__JE!§1_. % # 30 (11) 18 (32) 26 (42) 16 (26) 28 (1o) 30 (52) 25 (4o) 22 (35) 33 (12) 30.5 (54) 28 (45) 32 (53) 25 ( 9) 30 (53) 27 (44) 23.5 (39) 50 (18) 43 (77) 4o (65) 37 (61) 5o (18) 4o (72) 4o (65) 42.3 (70) 12 ( 4) 11 (18) 5.5 ( 9) 9.5 (15) Fair, poor, or very peg; % i o (o) 3 ( 5) 2 ( 3) 1 ( 2) 8 ( 3) 13 (23) 8 (13) 7 (12) 11 ( 4) 15 (28) 15 (24) 7 (12) 31 (11) 9 (16) 9 (14) 13 (22) 8 ( 3) 7 (12) 5 ( 8) 3 ( 5) 11 ( 4) 9 (16) 5 ( 8) 8.4 (14) 3 ( 1) 3 ( 4) .5 ( 1) .5 ( 1) No chnfren 50 ( 21) 61 (108) 81 (126) 77 (124) Hz ( 35) (178) (162) 166 542) ( 36) (176) (160) 161 533 ( 86) (177) (162) 165 (EXT) ( 36) (178) (162) 166 542 ( 36) (178) (162) €166; 542 ( 35) (178) (162) 166 542) ( 55) (174) (156) (161) (526 7 The difference between 72 & 83 percent is significant at the .10 level. # The difference is significant at the .01 level. '7 Significant at the .10 level if Net quite significant at the .10 level -Lz.0- Age difference between husband and wife and marital satisfaction Table 6 shows the relative marital satisfaction of those men and women who are the same age as their spouse, of those who are older, and those younger than their mates. There are only minor differences between the age differential groups in the proportion who claim to be perfectly contented with their marriages. The only group of wives who could be con- sidered to have a diSproportionately large share of Very Happy members, is the group in which the wife is older than the husband. And even here, the difference is small, and is notable only in that it is_consistent throughout the three adjustment criteria: that is, five percent more of the 97 Wives who were older than their husbands reported that they were Very Happy, than of the age differential group with the next largest proportion of Very Happy wives. Eight percent more of the wives who were older than their spouses were Very happy than of the wives who were three or more years younger than their husbands. This is the largest difference in the percentage of Very Happy wives between any of the four groups. No age differential group reports more frequently they have "never considered" divorce than does the group in which the wives are older than their husbands. But it exceeds the other groups by only .h to h.h percent in the proportion of cases who have "never considered" divorce. Fur- ther, a smaller proportion, (17 percent), of the wives who are -L'.1- older than their husbands than of any other age differential ' or moderately serious" problems. group, have "extremely," "quite,' However, none of these percentage differences are mathematically very significant. Terman found that the wives in his sample who were h to 10 years older than their husbands had a strikingly higher mean happiness score.l. In the present study, the group of wives who are older than their husbands includes only 18 who are three or more years older. Seventy-two percent of these 18 are Very Happy, while 85 percent of those who are one to two years older than their spouse are Very Happy. In the present study, it is these women who are one to two years older who are most often Very Happy. In the Terman study, this group had a relatively low mean happiness score. There are no reliable differences in the proportions of satisfied husbands between any of the age differential groups. Terman found in his sample, "A tendency for higher happiness scores to be associated with greater (relative) age of husband."2. But in the College study there is no indication that either more husbands or more wives are satisfied in a marriage in which the husband is older than the wife. l. Terman, p. 18h. 2o IBID, p. 183-140 - b2 - TABLE 6: Marital happiness, the seriousness with which separ- ation has been considered, and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, according to the difference between the age of wife and husband, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: Age difference between husband and wife: Husband Husband H. and W. 1-2 years 5 or more same age older years older 3 :# 3 #= % =# Reported happiness: Very happy 78 ( 82) *76 (156) 75 (98) Happy 20 ( 21) #21.5 ( hB) 18 (an) Average 2 ( 2) 2.5 ( 7) 7 ( 9) (1957' -o 131) Seriousness with which separation has been considered: Never ccnsidered 7h ( 78) 77 (158) 78 (102) Not seriously 2O ( 21) 17 ( 35) 1h ( 19) Somewhat seriously or seriously 6 ( 6) 6 ( 15) 8 ( 10) I155) (255) 151 Seriousness of problem=#l: Ektremely, quite or moderately 2h ( 25) 2O ( hl) 23 ( 30) Not very serious 26.5 ( 28) 32 ( 67) 22 ( 29) Trivial 26.5 ( 28) 2h ( A9) at ( Lb) Not worth mention 23 ( 2h) 2h ( b9) 21 ( 28) 05 (206) (151) Wife ___ older % '# *85 (60) 991 (11) 6 ( 6) I977 78.h (76) 15.3 (13) 8.5 ( 8) (977' 17 (17) .29 (28) 26 (25) 28 (27) I977' * A difference of 10 would have been significant at the .10 level. #‘Significant at the .10 level. - b3 - TABLE 6: (Cont'd) As reported by husbands: Age difference between husband and wife: Reported happiness: Very happy Happy Average SeriousneSS‘with which separation has been considered Never considered Not seriously SomeWhat seriously or seriously Seriousness of problem=#1: Extremely, quite, or moderately Tot very serious Trivial Not worth mention Ho and W. same age % " 69.5 ( 75) 25 ( 25) 6.5 ( 7) (1557 : 81 ( 85) 13 ( lb) 6 ( 6) (105 23 ( 2h) 57 ( 59) 2b. ( 25) 16 ( 17) 105 Husband Husband 1—2 years 5 or more _fi older years older % :# % =# 72 (158) 68 ( 91) 2h ( 5o) 21 ( 28) h ( 8) 11 ( 1h) I255" 133 81 (167) 78 (106) 12 ( 25) 15 ( 20) 7 ( 15) 7 ( 9) (206) (155) 21 ( L5) 22 ( 29) 32 ( 66) 51.5 ( AZ) 27 ( 56) 31.5 ( A2) 20 ( 51) 15 ( 2o) (ETED' (155) Wife older )9 4 72 (69) 20 (19) 8 ( 8) '5967 77 (72) 12.5 (12) 10.5 $292. (96) 22 27 26 (21) (26) (25) 25 (2h) (95) - LL - TABLE 7: Education level of wives according to the age at which they were married. Age at marriage Non—College Some No of wives: College Grads Grads College College 19 or less *5 #30 #1 #36 20-21 **32 **hO 58 37 22-25 4#55 #17 **27 **15 2h-25 **17 ** 7 13 6 26 or over 11 5 8 6 N = 159 N - 375 N : 356 N = 198 531+ 53h Table 7 shows that the college graduates marry the latest and the women with no college training at all, marry the youngest. Those who have had some college are a modified picture of the late marrying college graduate group. Only five percent of the college graduates were married by age 19, compared with 36 percent of those with no college training. Between these two extremes are the 30 percent who do not have a college degree, and the 1h percent who have had some college training, (with or without a degree). Age 20 to 21 is not as characteristic a marrying age among college graduates as it is among the other groups in the sample. Yet, a third of the graduates married at this age. It is probable that most * The difference between 5 and 30 percent is significant at the .01 level. I . 0n. u a s Signilicant at tne .01 level. ** Significant at the .10 level. - £5 - women cannot obtain a college degree and be married by age 21. It is the time itself that is spent in education that accounts, in part, for the delay in the marriages of women.who go to college. For, 65 percent of the graduates, compared to ES percent of the wives with some college training, and 27 percent of the women who have never been to college, waited until age 22 or older to marry. All the husbands in the sample were attending college when the questionnaires were filled out. There is a relation- ship between the age at which the husbands married and their year in school. More of those who married at 23 or under are now in their freshman or sophomore year; hose who waited until 26 or older are found more often in the junior year or higher. Since this is, in general, a sample of newly married young people, the age at which they were married is not much below their present age. Thus, marriage age partially reflects the characteristics of "present age." TABLE 8: Education level of husbands according to the age at which they were married. Number of men in Number of men in Age married Soph. year or less Junior year or over 17 or under 0 2 18-19 27 9 20-21 105 73 22-23 91 71 2h-25 51 19 26-27 9 22 28-29 6 11; 30-31 7 2 32 or over 1 5 -Lé- Fifty-eight wives are now attending college and £86 are not. Of those who are not now in college, 208 {h} percent), have had no college training, and 278 (55 percent), have had some college. Three hundred thirty—six or 62 percent of the entire group of 5hh.women have had some college training. It is this group of women who either have been in college in the past or who are now attending college, who are represented in the fol- lowing table: TABLE 9: Whether or not wives with some college training are now attending college, according to the number of years of college completed. Whether or not Years of college completed by wives: wives now attend college: 2 years or less here than 2 years N c7 w J‘- — /° 7r /° 7T Attending 19 (11) 81 ( b7) 58 Hot attending b5 (12L) 55 (15h) 278 The women who are now attending college are evidently not a group of women who ordinarily would not go to college and who are now just taking advantage of the convenience of the col- lege while their husbands are attending. Eighty-one percent have had more than two years of college already. They are just completing an education that was begun earlier. The 19 percent who are fresh- men or sophomores may be women who ordinarily would not have gone to college. -h7 - Education level and marital satisfaction. If any group of wives in Table 10 contains significantly more satisfied members, it is the group who have reached their senior or graduate year in college. Even though 3 percent more of those with l to 3 years of college are Very Happy than of those who are seniors or graduates, it is found in the other two indices of satisfaction, that this latter group leads: 9.5 percent more wives who are seniors or graduates than of those who have had no college eXperience, have "never considered" divorce. The group with 1 to 5 years of college are in-between. A smaller.proportion of the senior or graduate group, (8 percent fewer than either of the other groups), have very serious problems. Also, more in this group than in either of the other two education levels have"trivial" problems. Those women with no college experience at all include fewer satisfied members than do the other two groups. This con- clusion is backed up by the fact that those who have senior or graduate status include Bl percent who have "never considered" separating. Seventy-nine percent of those with 1 to 5 years of college report this, while only 71.5 percent of those with no college at all say they have "never considered" divorce. The "senior or graduate" group includes only 15 women who have done any graduate work. Fourteen of these 15 report that they are Very Happy and one says she is Happy. While this - ha - small sample of women with advanced training cannot be studied by itself, it can be noted that it supports, and does not reverse, the trend that those who have reached the higher levels of train- in; show the largest proportion who are satisfied with their marriages. Among the husbands, the freshman, junior, and senior or graduate groups include almost equal proportions of Very Happy men. The only education level group of men that appears unusual is the sophomore group. Only 60 percent of these husbands are V ery Happy. The senior or graduate group includes slightly larger proportions of men who have "never considered" separating and a smaller proportion with very serious problems, than the freshman, sophomore, and junior groups. Unlike the wives, the men who are doing graduate work are not as frequently well-satisfied with their marriages as are the seniors. Seventy-eight percent of the 95 seniors are Very Happy,while only 70 percent of the 53 graduate students report that they are Very Happy. Further, 8h percent of the seniors and only 79 percent of the graduates say they have "never con- sidered" separating. It is impossible to determine from the information available, why the men graduate students are less often satisfied than the rest of the sample, while the women graduate students are more satisfied with their marriages than women of other education levels. It can only be conjectured -19- that when these men married their wives, they were of approx- imately equal educational background and level of intellectual interest. But as the husbands became better trained, as their level of aspiration rose, and their interests became broader and mor intense, they became dissatisfied with their now intel- ~1ectua11y inferior wives. On the other hand, the graduate student wives have not had the chance to become dissatisfied with intellectually stagnant husbands, because all the men in the sample are still in college, with their ambitions probably 1. still growing. l. Terman: p. 190: "After some hesitation we have included amount of schooling in the happiness prediction scale with a credit to husbands of only one point for more than a high school education. ‘Wives receive a credit of one point for one to four years of col- lege and two points for more than that amount of schooling." - 50 - TABLE 10: Reported.happiness, the seriousness with which separ— ation has been considered, and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, according to the number of years of schooling received. as reported.by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: 3§ncation Levgl 1—3 years Senior 01‘ No colle e of college_ Graduate . 3 3; $7 f ¥ :1 Reported.happines§L Very Happy 76 £151; 79 £140) 75 £120? Happy 18 6 18 31) 21 33 Average 6 ll 3 2 6; 3 S 5; 198 177 158 Seriousness with which separation has been considered: Never considered *71.5 $142; 79 (140) ''81 (128) 5 20) Not seriously 20. 41 15 ( 37) 13 ( Somewhat seriously 8 1.2.3. 6 1.19).. 5 1.2-2). or serious xv (198) (177) (158) Seriousness of problem fig Extremely. quite or moderately 23 (45) 23 ( 41) 15 ( 23) Not very serious 28 '(55) 29 ( 51) 28 ( 45) Trivial #24 (48) 25 ( 45) #53 ( 52) Not worth mention 25 50 23 a 40; 24 s 38; (198 177 158 ' The difference between 71.5 and 81 is significant at the .10 level. # Significant difference at the .10 level. -51— TABLE 10: (Cont'd) As reported by husbands: Education Level Freshman So homore Junior Graduate ; F z 1* i d 1 Reported happiness; Very happy 74 (115) *60 (85) 75 (73) I“7'5 (111) Happy 18.5 ( 29). 34 (48) 15 (13) 2g 33) Average or unhappy 7.5 12 6 9 10 £156; {142) ( 97 148 Seriousness with which separation has been considered: Never considered 77 (120) 79 Not seriously 16 ( ) Somewhat seriously 5 r 1 7 10 {an} 5 8 or seriously 7 %l_5_6% fig 97 148 Seriousness of problem f1 -, Extremely, quite, or moderately 20 ( 31) 425.5 ( 35) 28 (27) 415-5 E :3; Not very serious 29 ( 46) 32.5 2 46) 28 (27) 36 3 Trivial sl ( 48) 26 87 21.5 21 31 ( 3:) Not worth mention 20 31 16 22.5 22 17.5 155 142 97 148 " The difference between 60 and 75 percent is significant at the .05 level. '5‘ Significant at the .10 level. -52.. Relation at age married to education level. In testing the relation of education to marital satis- faction of wives, it must be kept in mind that another factor, the age at marriage, may also be an influencing factor. It was found that even when the factor of college education was held constant, the age at which non-college women married was associ- ated with the proportion of them who were satisfied with their marriages. The groups who married late were more often happy than were those who Herried young, even among women who had no college education. But it is also known that those women who go to college, marry later, for one reason, because of the time that college requires. Thus, the college women may be a better adjusted group, partly because they marry older, and not entirely because they get experience in college (or are the type of women who go to college). For, women who never attend college, but who marry late, seem also to be better off for their extra years of experience, even though it was not gained within a college. In Table 7,it was shown that there was a significant difference between the marriage age of the college and the non-college group. Only 1h percent of the women with some college training married at age 19 or younger, compared to 36 percent of the non-college group. And 21 percent of the college, but only 12 percent of the women with no college training, waited until 2h or older to marry. Thus, in attempting to test the relation of schooling to adjustment, a factor that is also being tested in the non- college group is a large proportion who married by age 19 and -53.. a small proportion who waited until 2h to marry. Relationship of education level to adjustment inthe seven areas. The adjustment of women in in-law relationships appears to be particularly associated with education level. Those who are seniors or graduates have a larger number more who have perfect adjustments in this area than do the groups who have had either no college or 1 to 5 years of college. (Table 12). The delay in marriage that graduating from college entails l. is probably the reason for better in-law adjustments among this group. It provides the opportunity for getting to know one's in-laws well before marriage. Another factor may be the greater skill that can be acquired in dealing with people after years of experience or perhaps after college experience, specific- ally. Or the more careful selection of a mate that college training or the extra years of experience make possible may mean that a mate will be chosen who is similar in background, and also, in family. Further, since college graduates are older when they marry, in—laws may treat them as mature adults, thus promoting a harmonious relationship. These may be the reasons for the association between in—law adjustment and edu- cation, rather than the actual academic training that is pro- vided in college. Those who have had some college or who are college —.—— m-.—— l. The length of acquaintance with the spouse before marriage is dlscussed in Chapter VI. -51;- graduates, more frequently have "excellent" sex adjustments than do those who have never attended college. Academic training may actually account for the difference in this area, for those who have had 1 to 5 years of college, just as frequently as those who have graduated, will have had formal training in sex that those who never attended college classes in marriage would not. However, added information may have nothing to do with this difference. Some other factor related to college attendance such as a late marriage age, may be responsible for greater success in sex. Those who have had some college training or are graduates are more often well adjusted in the area of spending the family income. It would seem that years of working would teach women how to handle money better than would years of relying on allowances from parents, as do college girls. But, perhaps,the ability to budget and buy carefully is not what is necessary to make women satisfied in this area. It was found that many wives complained that their husbands were too close with money and that the men tried to restrain them from buying certain things. It may be that the wives who did not attend college and who worked before marriage have been accustomed to managing their own money and they now resent relinquishing the responsibility to their husbands. This could not be the total explanation, for many college women who have never earned money are probably equally resentful. -a5- The college graduates are more often found to have satisfactory adjustments in the area of religion than are those with incomplete college educations or no college training at all. College may provide the best opportunity for weeding out members of the opposite sex who are incompatible in religion and other background factors. But the fact that only the grad- uates show a difference in the proportion who have satisfactory adjustments in religion, may mean that age is the most important influence, and not college. Those who marry late and do not attend college may make just as careful a choice of mate as those who marry late and do have college training. Those who have some college training or a college degree are well adjusted in the areas of choice of friends and social activities and recreation slightly more often than the non-college women. Either the factor of marrying at a later age or the actual training in social life that college provides, could account for the keener selection by college women of the men who will share their recreation time with them throughout their married life. This college training, or the years of experience in social life, may also better equip women to share in the social life of their husbands. Girls who did not attend college or who married before they had been entertained by several suitors in many kinds of recreational activity, may never have had the opportunity to learn such skills as bridge, bowling, skiing, or any of the other forms of recreation. Or -55- they may not have learned how skillfully entertain others or how to be charming at social affairs. The only area in which the reverse trend may be observed is in training the children. Nineteen percent of those with no college, 15.7 percent with l to 3 years, and 1h percent of those who are seniors or graduates, have perfect adjustments in this area. It may be that in the homes of the college women, children cause the most disturbance, because being a mother is often not felt by a college trained woman to add very much to her importance in society. Motherhood is not necessarily the natural outgrowth of marriage, for her, and she may not feel as wrapped up in caring for her children as the non-college women. "The Middletown spirit" included the sentiment, "that a married woman's place is first of all in the home, and any other activities should be secondary to 1. 'making a good home for her husband and Children'. According to Lundberg and Farnham, and many other writers, this is no 2. longer the value orientation of the modern educated woman. l. Lynd, Robert S. and Helen M., Middletown.in;Transition, 1957, Harcourt Brace and Company, p. M10. 2. Lundberg, Ferdinand and Farnham, Marynia F., M.D. Kodern Woman: The Lost Sex 19h? — Harper & Brothers, condensed in Cmnibook Magazine, November 19h7. P. 7h. _ 57 _ In speaking of the women of former yedrs, they say: "Women, con- trary to the feminists, had never rebelled against bearing children, for the good and sufficient reason that in bearing them lay almost their whole inner feeling of personal well-being and their vast social prestige." But Hfter the Industrial Revolutinn, women became ":ore and more conscious of themselves as 'drags' upon their husbands in the competitive struggle for place and prestige." Bearing children was no longer such an honor, for children were mouthes to feed rather than economic blessings. TABLE 11: Number of children according to the education level of wives: Number of Children _4No College #Collefle .1_\I_ '75 #7‘ ‘fi% EF— 1 42 ( 56) 58 ( 78) 1:54 2 38 ( 10) 62 ( 16) 26 o :57 (142) 63 (242) gag 544 Not only are the college women in this sample less frequently well adjusted in training and disciplining their children, but women in the sample who have children are more frecuently dissatisfied with their marriage than are childless women. (See Tables 22a, b and c, 25, and 26 in Chapter IV.) Further, not as large a preportion of the college women, as of the non-college wives, have children. The group of couples with no children include 26 percent more college than non- college wives. But there ere only 16 percent more collage than non-college women who do have a child, (even thong there -58- are 128 more college than non-college wives in the sample). "Goodsell argues that it is not college attendance per se which cuts down the marriage rate and birth rate of college women but membership in a social class. In order to establish this point she compares college women with their non-college sisters and shows that the sisters do not greatly exceed the college woman in respect of the birth rate. This argument does not, of course, destroy the fact that college women do not reproduce."1. In the present sample, however, many of the women are very young and many are newly married." Kostof them have not finished bearing children. It is possible that the college women in this sample will bear their children when they are older, but that they will have as many children as the non- college group. A study at the University of Colorado in 1958 revealed that the students there wanted to have children. The median number desired was two to three,-and just as many wanted 2. four children as wanted none or one. l. Waller,'Willard, The Family, élDynamic Interpretation, 1958, Dryden Press, p. 220, from hillystine Goodsell, Treblems 2£_ the Family, 1928, Century, Chapter XVIII. 2. Bernard, William 8., "Student Attitudes on Marriage and the Family," American Sociological Review, 1958, pp BSh-Bél. - 59 - TABLE 12: .Adjustment of wives in the seven areas of marital relationship, according to their level of schooling as .Areas of adjustment bxuyears of schooling:Excellent Spending income: No college * I"71.3 (141) l to 3 yrs college I"'79 Senior or Graduate 78 (140) (124) *Difference significant at In—law relations: No college 1 to 3 yrs college Senior or Graduate #68 #50 ( 97) 45 ( 85) (105) #Difference significant at Sex relations: No college 1 to 3 yrs college Senior or Graduate Religion: No college 1 to 8 yrs Senior or Graduate Choice of Friends: No college ‘1 to 3 yrs college Senior or Graduate Social activities and.recreation: No college 1 to 3 yrs college Senior or Graduate Training children: No college 1 to 3 yrs college Senior or Graduate 56 (110) 60 106) 62 ( 98) 53.5 (106) 53 94 50 95 59 (123) 66 (116) 65 102) 56 (110) 61 (108) 62 ( 99) 19 (37) 15.7 (27) 14 (22) reported'by wives: Fair, poor or Good vegx poor 26.2 (52) 2.5 ( 5) 20 (36) 1 ( 1) 21 (33) 1 2) the .10 level. 35 (69) 15 (29) 32.5 (68) 12.5 (22) 23 (35) 9 (15) the .01 level. 33 55 11 (22) 31 £55; 9 16; 33 51 6 9 33 (65) 13.5 (27) 34 (60) 13 (23) 31 (49) 9 (14) 32 64 6 (11) 33 £58; 1 ( 3) 32 51) 3 ( 5) 39 (78) 5 £10; 37 (65) 2 4 33 (52) 5 ( 8) 10 (19) 2 ( 4) 14 (24) .6 ( 1) 5 ( 8) 2 ( 2) *‘Difference significant at the .10 level. **69 69.7 i #79 it??? (124) AMA H ()1 03 d HHJ VVV HOG (O CHAPTER IV LENGTH OF TIME MARRIED.AND CHILDREN AS FACTORS IN MARITAL SATISEACTION Length of time married There were two reasons for studying the groups who had been married different lengths of time. First, it was thought desirable to ascertain whether adjustment was best in the begin- ning of marriage, under the glow of the honeymoon period, or whether adjustment became increasingly better with the months of living together. Other studies have found thnt couples who had been married for many years were less often happy than those married for only a few years. But the samples tested were of the entire span of married life. The present study is con- fined to couples who have beenmmrried for 6 years or less. The median length of time married falls between 18 and 23 months. This, then, is an Opportunity to intensively study newly married people only, and to see whether there are any important differences between the couples who have been married only a few months, those who have been married one, two, or three years, and those married up to six years. The second reason for studying groups who have been married different lengths of time was to see whether those who married before the War, those who married during the War, and those who married after the War were different in background or in marital satisfaction. Wartime marriages have been called hasty _ 51 _ ‘unions, and it has often been concluded that they would be unhappy marriages, Further, are the marriages contracted after the War more like the Wartime or the pre—War marriages? Since there are couples in this sample who married before, during, and after the War, it will be possible to study this factor. The following divisions have been made in the sample: Lgngth of time married Percent Numbgg Post-War marriages: Less than one year 33 179 Wartime marriages 1 year to less than 4 years 54 285 Pre-War marriages: Four years or more 13 78 Since the War ended in August of 1945, post-War marriages have been considered as those thattook place no earlier than December of that year. Three months was the time calculated to have elapsed before the first peacetime marriages would have occurred. By that time, men would.have returned from duty in the Service, and people would be feeling that it was peacetime. The Wartime marriages are reckoned as those that took place between 1942 and December 1945, and the pre-War group married anytime earlier than this. Age at marriage and length of time married Age at marriage is one of the factors on which these three groups are found to differ. Table 13 shows that almost tWice the proportion of men in the pre-War married group as in the post-War group married at the age of 20 or 21. Forty-six percent of the pre-War, 32 percent of the Wartime, and 27 percent of the post-War group married at age 20 to 21. On the other hand, more of the men _62— who married after the War, than of the War married, or especially than of the pre—War married, waited.until age 22, 23, 24, or 25 to marry. This would seem to indicate that the men in this sample who married after the War, delayed their marriages for longer than they normally would have. TABLE 13: Age at which wives and husbands were married according to length of time they have been married. Husbands Age Married Post-War Wartime Pre-War o ( 7) 19 or under 2 3g 10 g 28) 9 20 to 21 *27 49 32 93) *46 (36) 22 to 23 34 ( 61) #30 ( 85) #21 Eli; 24 to 25 **25 ( 45) **15 ( 44) 14 8 26 or over 11 L2]; 13 ( 37) 10 .2773} (179) 287) Wives 19 or under 18 ( 33) 24 ( 68) 27 (21) 20 to 21 37 ( 66) 37 (106) 37 (29) 22 to 23 {27 ( 49) 22 ( e4) #14 (11) ( 19) 24 to 25 11 10- E 33) lg (lg) 12 7 26 or over 7 {T75} 285 {$g} * The difference between 27 and 46 percent is significant at the .01 level. # The difference is significant at the .10 level. " The difference is significant at the .05 level. Table 13 shows that the War probably delayed the marriages of many of the post-War married women, also. For more of this group _ 53 _ married as old as age 22 or 23, than of the Wartime or pre-War married women. And fewer of the post-War wives married as young as age 19. Education level and length of time married The education level of men married.before, during.and after the War is presented in Table 14. The figures suggest that the post—War married husbands are younger than the other two groups. For 71 percent of those who married after the War are only freshmen or sophomores, while 49 percent of the Wartime and 36 percent of the pre-War married husbands are still in their first two years of college. Another possible explanation is that the post-War married husbands are not in their last years of college because the War delayed their education, just as it did their marriages, more than it did for the War and pre-War married groups. The figures for the education level of wives in Table 15, add weight to this reasoning. For, more of the post-War married group than of the other two, h:ve had some college training. And twice as many are in their last years as are freshmen or sophomores. This may be because the War delayed their marriages long enough for them to get a college education.' While they were waiting for prospective husbands to return from the service, they had an opportunity to attend college. - 54 - T111 LE 14; Education level of husbands according to length of time they have been married. How Long harried ineshmen & Sanghomores Juniogs Sgni ors, Gradu tes E 5‘ “5 F Post-War 71 (127; 29 ( 52) (179) Wartime 49 (142 51 (145) (287) Pre-War 36 ( 28) 64 ( 50) ( 78) TABLE 15: Education level of wives according to length of time they have been married. Education Level. Post-War Wartime Ftp-War % f‘ ‘%’ # No College 37 ( 65) 38 (109) 43 (33) E3 Freshmen, Sophomores 5° ( 36) Eggs ( 72) 57{:3 (26) Juniors, Seniors, Graduates 143 #81 7 {12%. H 179) 285 . Length of courtship in relation to length of time married. Another test of whether or not Wartime or post-War marriages were hasty and ill-considered lies in the length of acquaintance, engagement, and dating period that preceded the marriage. Table 16 shows the acquaintance period of the couples married before, during, and after the War. There is no evidence that the courtship before the pre-Wa r marria5e was any more d.rawn out th n for the other marriage groups. The draft probably cut short the dating period even of some of those couples who have been 02 lled pre—Wa r married. _65_ Only 42 percent of the post—Ear marriages occurred after vauaintance periods of less than three years, while 51 percent of the Wartime and 59 percent of the pre-War couples married after knowing each other for less than three years. The pre-War marriages appear to be the most "hasty" of all. TABLE 16: Length of vauaintance with spouse before marriage according to when married. When married Lesuhgnflefl lore than 3 years fl % # Post-War 42 ( 75) 58 (103) Wartime 51 (145) 49 (140) Pre-War 59 ( 46) 41 ( 32) But Table 17 reveals that the actual courtship or dating period of the couples who married after the War was more frequently of short duration than was that of the War and pre-War married couples. Eight percent more of the post-War couples married after dating for less than two years than did the pre-War married couples. It is not the couples who married during the stress of War who had.the shortest dating periods, but those who married after the War. Thus, couples who married after the War were kept from marrying for the longest period of time: the husbands were kept from going to school, the wives had a long opportunity to attend school, and both husbands and wives in this group married late. But it does not appear that these men and.women were delayed _ 55 - in marrying gpggific mates, but were only kept from entering marriage with any mate. This is suggested from the fact that the post-War group, in general, had the shortest pre-marital dating period with future mates. of the three groups. TABLE 17: Length of dating period with spouse before marriage, according to when married. Length of time Dating period: married. ‘égts than 2_years ears or mggg’ Difference 5 €51 '5‘ Post-War 44 ( 78) 56 (100) 12 Wartime 41 (115) 59 (167) 18 Pre-Wa 36 ( 28) 64 ( 49) 28 The engagement periods of the three groups are found to be slightly different. In Table 18, the pre-War and Wartime married groups are found to have married with no engagement or after an engagement of less than a month, more frequently than were the post-War couples. And a few more of the post-War married couples were engaged for two years or more before they were married. There are no reliable differences between the engagement period of those who married during the War and the couples who married after the War. -67.. TABLE 18: Length of engagement to spouse according to when married. Length Of engagement 6 - a Wartime Pre-War c Not at all 11 ( 19) 14 ( 40) 22 (17) Less than 1 month 4 ( 8) 14 ( 40) 6 ( 5) 1 to 5 months 32 ( 57) 33 ( 55) 28 (23) 6 to 11 months 20 ( 35) 21 ( 60) 19 (15) 12 to 23 months 14 ( 26) 18 ( 53) 18 (14) 2 years and over 19 34 10 37 7 {_§} 179 285 78 Length of time married and marital satisfaction Is there, then, any relationship between the length 1. of time married.and marital success? Table 19 reveals that 79 percent of the wives who were married in what has been called _ ___- _.__ ‘— la. Bernard finds a correlation of -.34 for men and -.27 for women between length of marriage and marital happiness. She reports that for both men and women, happiness declines from the third to about the tenth year. Bernard, Jesse,"The Distribution of Success in Marriage," American Journal of Sociology, 1934, 40, p. 49-60. lb. Terman, p. 176: Those men and women in Terman's sample who had been married for two years or less had the highest happiness rating. Those who were married for from 6 to 8 years had the lowest average happiness score. However, Terman is concerned with the wider span of married life. Some couples in his sample were married for 27 years or more. In the college sample, only 2 percent of the group has been married for 6 years and a third has been married for less than one year. - 68 - the Post-War period, say they are Very Happy, while 66 percent of those married during the war and 67 percent married before the war are Very Happy. Eighty-four percent of the Post-War married husbands, 73 percent of the Wartime, and 76 percent of those married before the'War, are Very Happy. Reporting that they have "never considered" separation are 89.h percent of the Post—war married wives, 77 percent who married during the war, and 67 percent who married before the War. Eighty-eight percent of the husbands who married.after the war, 73 percent who married in Wartime, and 63 percent who married before the war, have "never considered" separating from their spouses. Further, more of the husbands and wives who married during or after the War had serious problems than did those who married before the'War. Terman . found that after six years of marriage, there was a slump in the averagehappihess of the men and women in his sample. Those husbands and wives who had been married for six years, were less happy than those who had been married any shorter time; and those who were married for longer than six years were happier than the group who had been married for this particular length of time. That is, after this slump, he assumed that happiness rose again. At six years, the bottom had not been 1. Terman, p. 176. -59- reached, from which happiness would not rise. In the college samtle, there are not a sufficient number of cases who have been married for longer than 6 years with which to test this idea. Thus, it is possible that these people who were married before the war will not become more and more unhappy as the years pass, or even that they will remain at this lower happiness. For Terman's sample seemed to give evidence that this period was just a temporary lull. Another explanation, and one that seems less plausible, for the smaller proportion of satisfied individuals in the group who have been married a long time, is that those who married just before the war or, more especially, during the war, made hasty unions that have proved less satisfactory than the ones made in the "calm" of peacetime. But if this were the whole explanation, then those who married under the highest tension, that is, those who married in the middle of the War, would be the most unhappy now. But it is the preeWar married group, some of whom probably married in Pre;War peace or at least with substantial peacetime acquaintance periods behind them, who are the least satisfied of the groups. Thus, it seems more likely that the gradual increase in boredom or the gradual wearing off of the ecstasy of marriage, explains more of the tendency than does the supposed rush of marriages during the war. -70.. TABLE 19: Reported happiness. the seriousness with which separ- ation has been considered,and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem,according to length of time married, as reported.by wives and.by husbanma As reported by wives: Ehen married Post-War Wartime PreAWar Reported happiness of the marriage; Very happy 84 (150) 73 (210) 76 (59) Happy 14 ( 24) 22 ( 62) 18 (14) Average 2 4 5 1 5 ___§_ 5 100% £179) 100% §287;' 100% 578% Seriousness with which separation has been considered: Never considered 88 (158) 78 (210) 63 (49) Not seriously 9 ( 15) 20 ( 57) 22 (1?) Somewhat seridusly or seriously J 5 ___’Z_ 20 _J_.§ {3.3% 100% £178; 100% 287 10 7s Seriousness of ,problem #1: Extremely. quite or moderately serious 20 ( 35) 22 ( 63) 19 (15) Not very serious 22.5 ( 40) 31 ( 89) 30 (33) Trivial ‘ 30.5 ( 54) 24 ( 70) 28 (22) Not worth mention 2? 4:8 __2_1§_ 55 .335, {373%. i66%' £178; 100% 287) 100% -71- TABLE 19: (Cont'd) As reported.by husbands: When married Post—War Wartime Pre-War Reported.happiness % * % * # of the_marriage: Very happy 79 (142) 66 (189) 67 (52) Happy 18 ( 32) 25 ( 72) 24 (19) Average 3 5 9 25 9 {_Z%, 100% 5179; 100% Ezssg 100% 78 Seriousness with which separation has been considered; Never considered 89.4 (160) 77 (221) 67 $52; Not seriously 8.3 ( 15) 14 ( 41) 19 15 Somewhat seriously .’ or seriousl _2 3 H 2 1g {11%, y 10 179 100% 286 100% 78 Seriousness of problem f1; Extremely. quite or 22 17 moderately serious 21 38) g: E g; 32 25) Not very serious 23 50) 31 24; Trivial 29 :3) i: ( 5f) 15 12 Not worth ment1on1ng fig (179 3.65% {73-33;- 156% 78 MA -72- Adjustment in in-lnws and sex in relation to length of time married. What is the relationship between the length of time a man or woman has been married and his adjustment in the various or as of marital relotionshp tested in this study? Tables 2' and 21 show the association between these two factors for this sample. Both husbands and wives significently more often have perfect in—law and sex adjustments when they have been married for a short time. The difference is especially large anong wives. The women who were not married.until after the War have perfect adjustments 21.5 percent more frequently in in-lew relationships and 28 percent more frequently in sex relations than those wives who married before the War. The women who married most recently include the largest prOportion who are completely satisfied in these two are s, the wives who married during the War have the next Largest proportion, and those who have been married the longest, (the pre-Wer merried women), have the smallest proportion. The trend is the same for husbands: 14.5 percent more of the newly married.husbnnds than of the ones who married before the War, have "excellent" in—law adjustments, and ll percent more have perfect sex relations. Disturbances in in—law relationships may be associflted with being married a long time, and thus, of having a lirge number of opportunities to interact disturbingly with in—lows. The presence of children, with whom the in-laws can interfere and cause annoyance. _ 73 _ ay also be related. Children are present, of course, in the mar- riages that have been in existence for some time, but not in the oarriages that hove been recently contracted. The later marriage age of many of the post-War married people may also have given them an advantage in dealing with in—laws. Sex relations may be imper- fect because of any of these factors, also: pregnancy and the birth of children may have induced the feer and/or distaste of sex relations in the woman. The annoyance of the husband may have develOped with the wife's disinterest. Or, years of being married may have brought boredom, and made the individual able to see that his sex relations actually were not perfect, even though they had actually not charged. Spending the income. Among both husbands and wives, the smallest proportion with perfect adjustments in spending the family income occurs in the group who married during the War. These men and women never had the opportunity to work out together the monthly spending of money. Each handled his or her own shore of the income independently during the War, for the husband was away and.the wife was at home. While both had experience in managing the fahily income, each deveIOped ways of his own of doing it. Habits were actually formed that had to be broken or modified to coordinate with the other spouse's practices. Among these people, then, cooperation was not natural, but had to be developed. Schuetz has examined this same phenomenon. He writes that exnerience changes both the traveller and the one at home, for both l.(see next page) are acting as individuals and not together. — 74 ~ Friends and social activities. The e is a relationship amang the wives, between length of time married and adjustment in social activities and recreftion, 11 percent more of those married after the War having perfect ad— justments than of those married before the War, and with the War married women in—between. And the husbands who married nfter the ‘ar most frequently have perfect adjustments in choice of friends, 1 with the War married group rankina next, and the Pre-War uarried men trailing with the smallest proportion with perfect agreements in this area. This is the same pattern found for age married. The men who married older more frequently had perfect adjustments in choice of friends, and the older marrying women had a lxrger Share of perfect agreements in social activities and recreation. More of the post-War married group married at age 24 or older than did the War or pre—?ar married groups. Further, more of the post-War married w men are now in college or have been in college at some time, than of the women who have been married longer. These factors may account for the relationship between length of time married and adjustment in these areas. For inst nce, college women may have more experience in sharing the recreational activity of men than do non—college women. The post—War married group of women, -—_ “A.“ -mmn—n—‘o 1. Schuetz, Alfred, "The Homecomer," émericen Jqurnal 9£_Sociolowv, Vol. 50, pp 369-576. _ 75 _ which includes a big share of college girls, would, then, hevc perticularly '8. good background for adjusting to their husbrnd's recreational ectivities, because they know how to perticipnte. - 76 - QABLE 20: Adjustment of wives in the seven areas of marital relationship according to length of time they have been married. As reported.by wives: Area of Degree 9;.adjnstment adjustment Fair, poor, or by length of Mann. __j mar 1‘7. time married i i‘ i f Spending income: Post-War married 79 (142) 20 (35) 1 ( 1) él79) war married 73 £208; 25 (72) 2 E 5) 285) Pre-War married 76 59 20 (16) 4 3) 55:8) In-law relations: Post-War married 65.5 $116) 23.5 ( 41) 11 (19) gigg; war married 49 137) 37 $103) 14 2:8; Pre-War married 44 ( 34) 43 33) 13 533) Sex relations: PostAWar married 68 (121) 27 f 47) g 33; $222; War married 57 (161) 38 94 i1 9) 78 Pre4War married 45 ( 35) 44 ( 34) {545% R 11 ion: ePoitAWar married 57 (102) 31-5 2 56; 11.5 (20) (132) War married 53 (152) 34 97 13 (38) 278 Pre4War married 58 ( 45 29 ( 23) 13 , (10) 54 Choice of friends: PbstAWar married 69 (123) 29 ( 51) 2 51:; Eggg; War married 60.5 $173) 35 s 99; 2'5 < 3) 78 Pre4War married 67 52) 29 23 Social activities and recreation: Post-War married 64 (115) 33 57 4 7 2179 War married 59 £167; 37 106 4 l: 285; Pre4War married 53 41 43 33 5 5:: No children or “too_ypungfl Training children: # ( o) 99.5 (178) (179) Post-War married .5 ( 1) O ( O) O War married 21 ( 61) 13 ( 37) 2 ( 5) 54 (182) (285) Pre—War married 28 ( 22) 22 ( 17) 1 ( 1) 49 ( 38) 78 542) _ 77 - TABLE 21: Adjustment of husbands in the seven areas of marital relationship according to length of time they have been married. Area of adjustment by length of time married Spending income: PostAWar married Var married Pre4War married Inelaw relations: Post-War married War married Pre—War married 53: relations: Post-War married War married Pre—War married Religion Post-War married War married Pre-Iar married Choice of friends: Post-War married War married Pre—War married Social activities and recreation: Post-War married War married Pre-War married Training children: Post-War married War married PreAWar married As reported by husbands: Degree 9.1... adjustment Excellent 1' r 79 (142) 76 (217) 82 ( 64) 71 127) 63 £177) 56.5 43) 64 (115) 53 $153; 53 41 63 (112) 60 173 64 ( 50) 61 $109) 49 140) 56 ( 44) 54 i 97; 43 136 52 ( 41 .5 ( 1) 23 ( 66) 33 ( 26) Good #* 18.5 ( 33) 22 ( 64) 18 ( 14) 21 ( 37) 27 ( 76) 31.5 ( 24) 26 46) 33 g 94; 34 26 28 ( 50g 26 $ 74 28 22) 34 (161; 45 29 42 E 83) 39 ( 7o) 43 (123) 43 34 1 ( 2) 12 (34) 14 (11) Fair, poor, or very poor .12}. a r 2.5 ( 4) (179) 2 ( 6) (287) 0 ( 0) :2 5 8 (13) (177) 10 (29) (282) 12 ( 9) {Egg} 12 92 8223 13 E10; {—22} 543 9 (17) (179) 14 (40) (387) 8 6 R22 5 é 9; (179) 5 17 (286) 2 ( 2) 5:: 7 (12) (179) 9 (26) (385) 5 ( 4) 5:: No children or I'too 12mg" 0 ( o) 98.5 (177) (179) 1 ( 4) 64 (182) (286) 4 ( 3) 49 ( 38) 7g 540 -78- Children and marital satisfaction The length of time that a couple has been married and whether or not they have children are usually so highly correlated that it was thought best to isolate both factors to determine which one, or whether both were directly related to marital satisfaction. More of the husbands and wives in the sample who have no children are Very Happy, have never considered separating from their spouses, and havenoserious problems, than do the husbands and wives with children. These relationships may be seen in Table 22. Of the wives, 71.5 percent who have children are Very Happy while 80 percent of those without children are Very Happy. Sixty—three percent of the husbands with and 7h percent without children are Very Happy. Further, 69 percent of the wives with children and 80 percent of those without children have "never considered" separating. Of the husbands who have children, 75 percent, and of the husbands who do not have children, 81.3 percent have "never considered" divorce. And more husbands and wives with children have "extremely,""quite," or "moderately serious" problems, or "not very serious" problems, while the husbands and wives without children are more likely to have "trivial" problems or problems "not worth mentioning." The fact that those couples who have children are less happy' than those who do not have children, may be a consequence of the fact that couples with children have been married longer -79.. than those without children. Children themselves may have no adverse effect upon marital satisfaction. But a boredom, irritability, and dissatisfaction may develop through the years of marriage, so that those who have been married the longest are the most unhappy, while those couples who are still in their first few months of marriage may be dazed with satisfaction in their spouses. It was seen in the preceding discussion based on Tables 19, 20 and 21, that those men and women who have been married the shortest period of time are most often completely satisfied with their marriages, and that those married the longest are least often satisfied. It can further be seen from Table 23 that children are most frequently present in the marriages which are the oldest. -80.. TABLE 22: (5) Reported happiness, the seriousness with which sep— aration has been considered, and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, according to whether or not there are children, as reported by wives and by husbands. Happiness of the marriage, as reported by wives Very Hap y _ghappy#_ Avera e N H%#7’+o W- Wives with children 71.5 (12h) 22.5 (59) 6 (10) 52 (173) 'Wives without children 80 (295) 16 (59) h (15) 68 (569) 100‘? (5&27 Happiness of the marriage, as reported by husbands Very Happy Happy Average N % *2 ”7"", 7% /° # .% # Husbands with children 63 (10h) 29 (h9) 8 (15) 31 (166) Husbands without children 7h (279) 20 (75) 6 (2h) 69 (378) 109% (514117 TABLE 22: (B) (Contfl) '- Seriousness with which separation has been considered, as reported by wives: Somewhat Never con- Not seriously or sidereduit seriougly seriously N % r 36 if 5’75“”? 47: if Wives with children 69 (120) 22 (58) 9 (16) 52 (17h) Wives without children 80 (296) lb (52) 6 (21) 68 (369) 1337.; ( 52 i5 5 Seriousness with which separation has been considered, as reported by husbands: Somewhat Never con- Not seriously or sidered it seriously seriously N 5% t T—w“ - ?f—F 'n 2:12:23:siioaiiiiiiientis he) as 21322 12.5 $63 2% 851?? g (551:5 -81.. TABLE 22: (p) (Cont'd) Seriousness of problem=#l, as reported by wives: Extremely, quite or moderately Not very Not worth serious serious Trivial mention N W #2}; T 714": If it: /° (5 /° T Wives with children ah (ha) 37 (6h) 23. 5 ( hl) 15.5 ( 27) 32 (17L. hives without children 20 (37) 23.5 (87) 28. 5 (105) 28 (103) _6e_ (36 lOOfé (3,0 ) ) \D O Seriousness of problem #l,as reported by husbands: Extremely, quite or moderately Not very Not worth seriousgp serious Trivial mention N % 1% fl =# %* 3# '77 iF’ ’?5 #‘ Husbands with children 25 (L2) 36 ( 59) 27 ( A5) 12 (20) 31 (166) Husbands without children 20 (75) 30 (11h) 28 (107) 22 (82) _§9_ ( 78) (SDI) 10 00% Ninety-eight percent of the couples who married after the War are childless, while 61 percent of the couples married during the war, and hh percent of the Pro—War married couples have no children. TABLE 23: - Number of children according to length of time married. When married Number of children Post-War ‘Wartime Pre-War 30 ¥ :0 % 30 ¥ 1 child 2 ( 3) 55 (100) 37 (29) 2 children 0 ( 0) h. ( 11) 19 (15) No children 98 (176) 61 (17L) uh (uh) 179 Z% 55 i -82- But these figures, in themselves, do not disclose whether those couples with children who have been married a long time report the same or different happiness from those who have been married for some time and who do not have children. It has been shown that those with children are less often happy than those without children, that those who have been married a long time are less frequently happy than those married for less time, and that those who have children are more apt to have been married for some time. The factor of length of time married must be eliminated as a possible influence on marital happiness. With this factor controlled, those who have been married the same length of time are found to be satisfied less frequently when they do,tha1when they do not have children. Both factors-~the length of time married and children, are associated with marital adjustment. It can be seen from Table 2h that those who have been married since before the War and have no children are more often happy than are those who married before the War and do have children. Of the husbands married before the war, 61.5 percent of those who have children, but 75.5 percent of those without children, are Very Happy. Even among those married as late as during the War, 65.5 percent with children and 68 percent without children are Very Happy. Among the wives married before the War, 75 percent with children and 76 percent without children are Very Happy. Of those wives married during the War, the difference is significant: 65 percent with children and 79 percent without children are Very -83- Happy. Also, more husbands and wives who were married before the war or during the'War who have no children report that they have "never considered" separating from their spouses and that they do not have a serious marital problem, than do those who do have children. These figures do not say that the presence of children is the total explanation of the lower happiness of the group who have been married a long time. More of those with than of those without children are unhappy. But some of those who have been married for a long time and do not have children are dissatisfied for other reasons related to having lived with a spouse for a long period of time. This seems to be brought out by still another percentage. Eighty percent of the husbands who were married after the war, (that is, who have been married for less than a year), say they are Very Happy. Only 3 of these men have children. If the presence of children in a family were the only factor responsible for the difference in happiness of groups, then those who were married before the War and who have no children would report that they are Very Happy just as frequently as do those who were married after the War and who have no children. But it can be seen that 5.5 percent more husbands who married after than who married before the War and have no children, are Very Happy. Thus, both factors, the length of time married and the presence or absence of children, are associated with marital satisfaction. _ 8h - TABLE 24: Happiness. the seriousness with which separation has been considered. and the seriousness of the most troublesome problem, according to the length of time the couple have been married, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: When married Quringjhe Wag §efore thejéli; Children No children Children 0 children Reported happiness: 5 F % if Very happy 65 ( 74) 79 (136) 75 (33) 76 (26) Happy 28 ( 32) 17 ( 30) 20 ( 9) 15 ( 5) Average __1 ( 8) __4_ g 7} __5_ {43% __9_ {__31 100% (114) 100% 173 1005 44 100% 34 Seriousness with which separation has been considered: Never considered 69 ( 79) 76 (131) 61.3 (27) 55 (22) Not seriously 22 ( 25) 18 ( 32) 27.4 (12) 15 ( 5) Somewhat seriously 20 7 or seriously 9 10 6 10 l 5 . ‘ 100% 114 100% 173 100%" $44) 100% {34) Seriousness of problem £1 3 Extremely. quite or moderately serious 24.5 ( 28) 2O ( 35) 25 (11) 13 E 3‘) Not very serious 38 ( 48) 26.7 ( 46) 36 (16) 21 (1") Trivial 21 ( 24) 26.7 ( 46) i: (13) 3: 1? Not worth mention 46.5 I 19) 26.7 46 , __— 1004 (114) 100 5173) 1005- E44; 100% 34 - 85 - TABLE 24: (Contfl) As reported by husbands: Reported happinesg: Very happy Heavy Average Seriousness with which separation has been consideggg: Never considered Not seriously Somewhat seriously or seriously Seriousness of _problemgfl: Extremely, quite or moderately serious 25.5 Not very serious Triv 18.1 Not worth mention Children No children 7 r 63.5 ( 72) 68 (117) 27.5 ( 31) 24 ( 41) 9 10 __E. {_lég. 156% 113 100% 173 80 ( 91) 75 (130) 11 ( 12) 17 ( 29) 9 s 103 8 %_i£%, 100% 113 100% 178 ( 29) 19 ( 38) 33.5 ( 38) 35 ( 50) 24 ( 27) 28 ( 48) .17. 19 4.8. 32 100% 113 100% 173 Eben married During_the Ea; Before the:flg£ Children Ng_children %’ r 61.3 (27) 73.5 (25) 27.4 (12) 20.5 ( 7) 11.3 5 6 2 100% 44 100 34 64 (28) 70.5 (24) 20 ( 9) 17.5 ( 6) .15 7 .19. H4 100% 44 100% 34 25 (11) 17.5 ( 6) 38.5 (17) 24 ( 8) 23 (10) 41 (14) .1695 6 17.5 ‘%_§} 100% 44) 100% 34 ~86.- Children and.adjustment in the seven areas of marital relationship. Men and women in the sample who have children less often are completely satisfied with their overall marriage situation than are those without children. In what areas of adjustment do children make a difference? The relationships are shown in Tables 25 and 26. There is a sizable difference among both husbands and wives in the proportion with and the proportion without children who have perfect adjustments in the area of in-law relationships. Twelve percent more husbands and 19 percent more wives without children than with children, report "excellent" adjustments with their spouses over in—laws. It is known from the question, "What do your in—laws do that irritate you most?" that the interference of in-laws with the children was frecuently the reason for most irritation. Even though the question on "your adjustment with your spouse" in in- law relationships concerns not the relationship with the in-laws themselves, but the relationship with the spouse over in—law relationships, it was evident that the informants did not keep clear the distinction between these two types of relationship. rIf the in-laws interfered.with the children to an irritating extent, the question of adjustment with the spouse over in-laws was frequently said to be imperfect. However, when in—law relation- ships were reported to be poor, it did usually mean that the spouse was involved, because the coefficient of correlation between marital - 87 u happiness and adjustment in in-law relationships was +.267 for husbands and-+.24O for wives. Couples with children have been married, as a group, longer than those without children. And since it was found that length of time married.was related to in-law adjustment, it is possible that the larger number of times that the couples married a long time, have interacted with their in-laws may have provided more opportunities for conflict than the few times the newly married couples have interacted.with them. This accounts for only part of the difference. Children were actually reported to be the center of difficulty between the couple and in-laws in me \ cases, so it is quite certain that the presence of children offers an additional source of conflict. . ‘“ Perfect sexual adjustments are not as characteristic of couples with children as of those without. There is scant evidence for children being the direct cause of impaired sex re- lations in the question asking the difficulty in sex relations. :A small number of women reported that unwanted pregnancies had ’made them afraid to have sex relations. The large number of women who are not as interested in sex relations as are their hus- bands, may include a number of women who were adjusted to their husbands in sex drive before children were born, but afterwards, were less interested. There may be a relationship between a preg- nancy and a disinterest in or an aversion to sex relations, and the women may themselves. be unaware of the connection. Adding some - 88 - weight to this notion is the fact that wives do show a closer re- lationship than husbands, between the presence of children and sat- isfaction with the spouse in sex relations: 12 percent more wives and 5 percent more husbands without children than with them, have ."excellent'sex adjustments. Religion is the only other area besides in—law relationships and sex, in which both husbands and wives show a greater tendency toward perfect adjustment when they do not have children than when children are present. Differences in religion become important when children enter the fauily. For parents feel the obligation or right to teach their children what they hink is the ethical way of life. Some couples may experience their first religious conflict when they try to make decisions about the religious training of their children. Beliefs often remain covert until this situation arises to demand their expression. The husbands have perfect agreements with their spouses in the area of social activities and recreation five percent more frequently when there are no children than when children are present. It would seem that the wives would.have more complaints about this area, for they must sacrifice more of their social activities, especially recreation with their husbands, in order to stay with the children. But more husbands than wives made the report that their spouses wanted to go mut or have company too often. The wives are at home alone with the children during the day and want to break the monotony in the evening. But it is the husbands who become irritated at their insistence at being entertained, for one ...89.. reason because they have studying to do every night, but more importantly, because they interact socially on the campus though- out the day, and when they return home they do not feel the need for additional social activity. A slightly larger proportion of wives with no children have perfect adjustments in spending the family income, (8 percent more than wives without child en). This may be one situation in which the actual amount of money available to spend is reflected in the adjustment in spending the income. Wives with children, in general have a smaller income to deal with and have a larger area tospread it over. These women may feel the pinch and the sacrifice in clothing and luxuries so much that they become annoyed that their husbands do not earn a sufficient living. Since the complaintusually made by wives is that the husband.pinches too much, the wives with children may blame their husbands when their income is not as large as they would.wish. The husbands, on the other hand, 3.5 percent more fre- quently have perfect agreements in this area when children are present. Wives usually do the buying for the children. When they take this responsibility, they come to have more control over the family income and learn to budget it more carefully. If this is what actually occurs, then the husband may become more and more satisfied with his wife's handling of the money, for she takes responsibility for making ends meet, instead of making him keep her within bounds. _ 90 - But in this area, the percentage differences involved are too small to explain more than a small proportion of the cases. _ 91 _ TABLE 25: Adjustment of wives in the seven areas of marital relationship according to the number of children. As reported by wives: Degreelgf adjustment $3 the areas Areas of ."Fair, poor or adjustment by I"Excellent *Good- very poor__ number of children: % # ¥ # if f E. Spending income 1 child 74 ( 99) 23 ( 31) 3 ( 4) 2 children 69 ( 18) 27 ( 7) 4 ( 1) 0 children 77 (295) 22 ( 85) 1 ( 4) Training children: 1 child 60 ( 71) 36 ( 42) 4 ( 5) 2 children 50 ( 13) 42 ( ll) 8 ( In-law relations: 1 child 40 ( 53) 46 ( 62) 14 (18) 2 children 50 ( 13) 46 2 12) 4 ( 1) 0 children 59 (223) 27.5 103) 13-5 (50) Sex relations: 1 child 49 E 65) 35 ( 47) 16 (22; 2 children 62 16 30 ( 8) 8 2 0 children 61 (230) 32 (120) 7 (24) Religion: 1 child 50 E 67) 37 g 50) 13 $17) 2 children 61 16) 27 7 12 3) 0 children 57 (218) 31 (119) 13 (46) Choice of friends: 1 child 63.5 ( 85) 34.5 ( 46) 2 ( 3) 2 children 61 ( 16) 31 ( 8) 8 E 2) 0 children 64 (247) 32 (121) 4 15 Social activities and recreation: 1 child 60 ( 81) 35 ( 47) 5 ( 6) (134) 2 children 54 ( 14) 38 ( 10) 8 ( 2) (26 0 children 59 (228) 37 (141) 4 (15) éggg} 544 ' In the areas of spending the income, training the children, choice of friends, and social activities and recreation, the adjustment check- list was worded."We agree almost all the time," “...most of the time," and "...half the time, seldom, or never,“ rather than the form "Excellent," ”good,“ and “fair, poor, or very poor" that appears in the other three areas. - 92 ~ TABLE 26: Adjustment of husbands in the seven areas of marital relationship according to the number of children. As reported.by husbands: Degree 31; a justment in the areas Fair, poor or Excellent ood veg poor _11 1g # # r7 # ’ Areas of adjustment by number of children: Spending income: 1 child 80.5 (108) 18 ( 24) 1.5 ( 2) (134) 2 children 78 ( 21) 22 ( 6) 0 ( 0) ( 27) 0 children 77 (294) 21 ( 81) 2 ( 8) 522:; Training children: 1 child 67 ( 79) 29 E 34) 4 é 4) (117) 2 children 44.5 ( 12) 44.5 12) 11 3) 12: In-law relations: 1 child 56 74 31 é 41; 13 (17) $132) 2 children 63 E 17; 30 8 7 2) 27) 0 children 68 (256) 23 ( 88) 9 (32) 532 sexlrghildons° 54 ( 71) 29 39 17 (23) (133) 2 children 55 E 15) 30 8 15 ( 4) ( 27) 0 children 59 225) 30.5 117 10.5 (41) iggg} Religion: 1 child 58 ( 78) 27 ( 36) 15 (20) (134) 2 children 70 ( 19) 15 ( 4) 15 ( 4) ( 23) 0 children 62.5 (239) 27.5 (105) 10 (39) 3%: Choice of friends: 1 child 52 ( 70) 43 ( 58) 5 ( 6) (134) 2 children 55.5 ( 15) 44.5 ( 12) 0 ( 0) ( 27) 0 children 54 (208) 40 (153) 6 (22) :3: Social activities and recreation: 1 child 47 ( 63) 43 ( 57) lo (14) (134) 2 children 48 ( 13) 44.5 ( 12) 7.5 ( 2) ( 27) 0 children 52 (199) 41 (158) 7 (26) 383 CHAPTER V ECONOHIC FACTORS AND HOUSIHG Income and spending Out of the sample of 544 student couples, 525 of the husbands are veterans drawing $90 a month for subsistance from 1. the Government. The median income for the veteran families is 2. $195 per month and the income of the 19 non-veterans averages $170 monthly. The entire group of 544 couples have a median income of $190 or a mean of $193. The significant difference in income, however, is not be- tween the veteran and the non—veteran families, but between those veteran families in which the husband or wife does some work for 1. Income is defined.fin0ughout this discussion as any money that the couple has at its disposal for regular monthly spending, whether it be from G. I. Pay, the husband's or wife's working, parents, savings, borrowing, royalties, or other benefits now being received for past services or investments. Army pensions for disability are included'under G. I. Pay. Some husbands draw approximately $20 a month for participating in advanced.R.O.T.C. at the college. Since this requires that time and effort be expended now, this money is considered as the husband working. 2. A survey released by the Veterans Administration at Duke Univer- sity indicates that the average monthly income of married veterans there was $181.93. Had the monthly use of savings been excluded from the figures in the present study, the average income of Michigan State College students would correspond closely with that of the Duke students. Newsweek fiagazine, July 7, 1947, p. 88. -94- money, and those families in which this additional income is lacking. In the 251 families where the wife is working, the total income for the family is $236 (median, or $237 mean). In the 274 in which the wife earns no money, the median income drOps to $134 (median, or mean $151). An additional indication of the important economic roles the group of working wives are playing is that in those families, the wife brings in 57 percent of the total income (median, or 52.5 per- cent mean). The pr0portion that the wife earns does not vary greatly in the different types of living arrangements. The percentage ranges from the 54 percent earned by Trailer Camp wives, down to the 50 percent where the couple lives in its rented or owned house. The only working wives who do not average 50 percent or more are the seven women who live in other towns because they have not been able to find suitable living quarters near the college. The seven working wives who live in these conditions average only 4.4 percent of the total 1. income. Fifty-two percent of all wives of veterans do no work for money. The remaining 48 percent range from under 10 to over 48 hours a week. Only 40 wives work 38 hours or less; 37.5 percent of all wives have a work week of 39 hours or more. The largest bunching 2. is at the 40 hour week which is worked by 119 wives. 1. See Table 30 for additional economic data on all types of residences. 2. Op.cit. 48 percent of the Michigan State College wives in this sample are working, compared to 59 percent of those surveyed at Duke University. _ 95 - In the 55 veteran families in which the wife is attending school along with her husband, the mean income is $169, compared to the $196 earned by the 470 families where the wife does not attend college. Thirty—four wives are veterans but only six of those going to school are veterans and thus taking advantage of the subsistence paid by the Government. In general, therefore, the lower average income of the families in which the wife is in college can be ex- plained by the fact that the wives in school are not earning money. There is not such a large difference between the income of the couples working and those with non-working husbands.1. Among the 195 working husbands, the income totals $200 a month. The 330 couples who have no income from the husband.working have a median income of $190, only $5 less than the median for the whole group of 525 veteran families: ($195). This would seem to indicate that the working husband is putting in only a few hours at outside work. However, the men who are working do earn a median of 30 percent of the family's total income, (mean 34.5 percent). Further, the arith— metic means are $207 for the families in which the husband is work- ing and $183 for those where he does not work. The median tended to obscure the fact that the group is weighted.at the bottom with a large number of families who draw the bare $90 per month. After $90, the figure jumps into another group who earn $150. From then m“.-‘“—__u.—-4-“m‘ ------—- 1. Ibid. Thirty-six percent of Duke married veterans surveyed have part-time jobs and 37 percent of the veterans in this sample work. _96— on, the progression is regular. But the median did not bring out the lumping at the bottom and the broad gap above it. The bunching at the $90 figure is also brought out when the mean and median are compared for the percent of total income derived from G. I. pay. While the median is 47.5 percent, the mean is 58.4 percent because of the exclusive dependence on the Government allowance by the large group earning exactly $90 a month. The median does not portray' as well as does the mean, the fact that these couples obtain 100 percent of their income from this one source. Total family income is seen to vary with other factors. The 43? couples who say that they do not find it necessary to dip into their savings or to borrow money, earn $200 a month, (median, or $200.80 mean). The other 88 veteran families who do borrow or use savings, have only $140 (median, or $154 mean) available for monthly spending. Since this income figure includes the amount borrowed or withdranlfrom savings, their actual earned income is less than this $140 figure. Borrowing was resorted to by few; savings deductions were more important. Almost as striking a difference is evident between the $195 (median and mean) earned by the 487 who get no assistance from their parents, and the $154.50 (median or $158.60 mean) available to the 38 couples who do receive parental aid. Children and working wives. There are large differences in the financial standings of -97.. the groups with no children, one child, and 2 children. TABLE 27: Mean monthly income, percent of income spent on food and rent, and amount spent on food and rent, by those families with no children, one child, and two children. Mean % Spent on Amt. Spent on #_ Childr_e_ri Monthly Income ficdfifient Food 8: Rent E 0 $204. 48% $ 90.30 377 1 156. 61% 89.70 126 2 202. 57% 106.80 22 Combined 51% 90.90 525 From this array of income figures, it is evident that the young coufile with one child has the lowest total income, the wife being unable to leave the child so as to supplement the income by earning money outside the home. A four hour work day is usually the most that these mothers can manage. The 22 women with two children are not working wives, but they have been married longer and this fact probably indicates that the family financial situa- tion was better established.bef0re the husband entered college. Besides having the lowest total income of the three groups, the couples with one child are spending the largest pro- portion of it (61 percent) on the minimal needs of food and rent. The childless couples spend almost the same amount for food and rent ($90), but this figure is only 48 percent of the available sum, _ 98 _ 13 percent less than that spent by couples with one child. The 22 families in the sample with two children are spending about $107 for food and rent, an amount greater than that spent by either childless or one-child couples, but pggpggtigpgtgyz less than the one-child couples and quite a bit more proportionately than the childless couples. The averages for the combined groups are closest to the figures for childless couples. This would be expected be- cause most (377) couples have no children. The mean amount spent on food and rent by all couples is $91 and the proportion of total income is 51 percent. There is further evidence that the number of children is not initself the important factor in draining off a large portion of the income. It can be seen from the following figures that whether or not the wife is able to work and the number of hours she can work for money are the main factors in determining the family's financial position. _ 99 - TABLE 28: Mean amount and percent of total income spent for food and rent according to the number of hours the wife works per week. Hours Wife Works {ean.Amt. spent on Mean % spent on (per weekL __igood and Rent Food & Bantw .11 (No response) 9 None - $ 85 60. 291 0-10 92 51. 10 11-18 89 62. 3 19-26 102 55. 8 27-34 93 37. 9 35—38 ' 85 - 87. 10 39-42 95 40. 119 43-46 111 41. 62 4? or over 92 37. 23 . TOTAL 544 Mean for all working wives 98 41 244 In the 291 families in which the wife does not work at all, $85 suffices for food and rent. In general, the more hours the wife works, the more money the family spends for these basic items, except for the ten women who work 35-38 hours a week and who spend only $85. This group is too small to ave any assurance that it is representa- tive. .But those who work 39-42 hours number 119, and Spend $95 on food and rent. Further, there are 62 in the 43-46 hour group and they spend.$lll. These two groups can be safely compared with the large group of non-working wives and it can be concluded that the amount spent on food and rent is in some way dependent upon the amount of work done by the wife. The explanation may not lie entirely in the - 100 ~' larger total income thus obtained, but may result partly from the fact that when the wife works a full day, the family cannot eat at home but must buy the more expensive restaurant meals. The $85 spent in families where the wife does not work and the $98 when she does work may be compared with the $90 spent by both the group with no children and the group with one child. The need for larger expenditures does not entirely explain the situation, for if any of these groups may be assumed to require more money for food and rent, it is the group with children. But these families spend no more than childless couples. It appears that the larger income a ailable to families in which the wife works is in itself a factor which induces these couples to Spend more. Perhaps, also, the restaurant eating of husbands and wives in families in which the wife works is just as necessary an expense as the purchase of extra equipment and services by couples with children. The percentagesof income spent for food and rent offer even more definite evidence on this point. Among wives who do not work, the expenditure is 60 percent of total income; in the com— bined group of working wives, only 41 percent is spent. These figures show that non—working wives require 19 percent more of their income than do working wives. for the basic needs of food and rent. There is a wider divergence here than there is between the childless group which spends 48 percent and the couples with 1 child who spend 61 percent. - 101 - When the childless couples, and then the couoles in which the wife does not work are taken out of the total sample and analyzed, it is seen that each of these groups is in tighter financial circum- stances than the rest of the sample. It would seem, then, that there would be some identity between working and childless wives on the one hand, and non-working wives and wives with children on the other. Table 29 reveals that the group of women with children is practically coterminous with the group who do not work. Sixty per- cent of the childless wives work, as compared to only six percent 1. of the women with one child. While only four women, or 15 percent with two children work, no separate comparison can be made with them because the Group consists of onlv 27 members. b _ :4 TABLE 29: Number and proportion of wives working in marriages J. with no children, one child, and two children. Number of Children Workimgjlives lion-Workiig Wives fl 73 1+ % 7% 0 60 (229) 40 (154) (38:5) 1 6 ( 8) 94 (126) (154) 2 15 ( 4) 85 ( 23) 2'7 544 * ' These figures include both veteran and non—veteran families. 1. Op.cit. Thirty-four percent of the Duke veterans have children and 28 percent of the veterans in the Michigan State College sample have at least one child. Even though 6 percent more in the Duke sample have children than in the Michigan State group, 11 percent more of the Duke wives are working than in this sample. - 102 - Residence in relation to finances. Financial status may also be examined on the basis of type of residence. TABLE 30: Kean monthly income, mean amount and.pr0portion of income spent for food and rent, and mean proportion of income that is derived from G. I. Pay, according to the type of residence in which the couple lives. Mean Mean Mean Mean % total Total Amt. Spent % Spent income from Residence Income Food,Rent Egpd,Rent G.I. Pay .3 Trailer Camp 158. 76, 54 69 181 Living with 179. 57. 36 66 36 parents Private house 224. 103. 50 51 63 Private 215 102. 50 _ 50 153 apartment Single room 207 112. 60 52 57 Off-Campus 203. 69. 43 57 26 Trailer In different 211 64. 42 41 9 towns 525 Combined non- Trailer Camp 210 98. 50 53 344 The Trailer Camp group can be seen to have the lowest total income ($158), to spend only a moderste amount, ($76) though a high proportion of their income (54 percent), on food and rent, and to - 103 - be the most highly dependent upon the G. I. allowance. The low income of this group may be partly cause and partly effect of their living in the Trailer Camp. The rent is less there than in any other type of residence except living with parents. Eighteen dollars is the rate of the single trailers if the family income does not exceed $100 a month. he<flarge is graduated.up to $27 depending on income. The double or expansible trailers for couples with children also begin at $18 a month and are graduated up to $32. Couples with small incomes may have been forced to live in this low rental housing, or they may have deliberately chosen the trailers or found them the only available housing and are now content with a small income because their financial requirements are lower than they would be under the other types of living arrange- ments. The Trailer Camp couples are dependent for a mean of 69 percent of their income on G. I. pay. All other, (that is, all non-Trailer Camp) couples combined. receive only 53 percent from this source. A similar situation is presented in the couples living with their parents. Their income is relatively low, ($179), but so are their expenses. They require only $57 a month for food and rent and this is only 36 percent of their income. Couples may find that living in these circumstances relieves their expenses and that they do not care to put in as much effort to earn more money as other couples who need it for their immediate expenses. (Only 34 percent of their income comes from a source other than the Government - 104 - pay.) On the other hand, they may be staying with parents only because they cannot earn more, or only until they are able to earn more. The 57 couples who are living in single rooms are earning a comparatively large income, ($207). But rent and food eat up $112 of it each month. This is 60 percent of their total income, a larger proportion than is required of any other residence group. People living in these circumstances must spend a larger amount for food than those who ave cooking facilities of their own. Their expenses are undoubtedly higher in other respects. With only a room to come home to, these couples probably spend more money for outside recrea- tion, while others are able to satisfy their amusement requirements in their own homes. Even a small trailer may more often suffice because it is a private home, though small. It can be safely assumed that these families are not working for $207 a month only because they wish to save a large amount of money, for their expenses are higher than those of a.y other residence group. The group living in private apartments and the group with their own houses present almost identical financial pictures. Their incomes are high ($215 and $224 . Their expenses are high though not as exorbitant as those of the single room couples. Fifty percent of their income is needed for food and rent. The house and apartment dwellers spend the most for housing, but less for food than the people in single rooms. One further breakdown of income may be made between the 50 - 105 - percent of veteran families who receive more than the median of $195 and the 50 percent below the median. TABLE 31: Mean.proportion of total income and mean amount spent monthly for food and rent, according to vhether the family income is above or below the median. §_Foodi_Rent (Mean) Amount on Food.& Rant_fiMean) Above Median Income: 61 $103. Below Median Income: 41 $ 79. These figures reveal that for the group as a whole, there is a close relationship between total income and how much is spent for basic needs. Again, it cannot be shown from the available evidence, that those who earn large incomes choose to spend more of it on better facilities. For one thing, it has been indicated that more spending does not necessarily mean better housing and meals, for couples living in single rooms must spend more money for even poorer meals. Those with higher incomes are spending not only a larger amount for necessities, but also, a 20 percent larger propor— tion of their total income. Further, there is little choice of housing at the college because of the pressing demand. Thus, many couples may take whatever they can get, regardless of cost, €nd.must, as a result, force themselves to earn s ficient money to pay their high living costs. - 106 - Tips of residence. TABLE 32: Number and proportion living in the different types of residences. Residengg~‘___ Number Pergggt Trailer Camp 181 "3 With parents 40 7 Private house 67 12 Private apartment 162 30 Single room 57 ll Off-campus trailer 26 5 In different towns l; 2 544 The Trailer Camp is a settlement of 360 trailers owned by F.P.H.A. and administered by the College. It is located a little more than a mile from the center of the Campus, and is inhabited by married veterans and their wives. This development has been planned with a utility building to service every twenty-six trailers. This service unit includes toilet and laundry facilities. Here, most of i the communication between the members in the section is carried on. Several trips to this building are necessary each day, and this keeps the 26 families in each section in active contact with one another. The laundry section is provided with a Bendix washing machine, wash tubs and a space for in-door clothes lines. Outside the service building an area is set up with clothes lines, and another area penned off for children to play in. Fresh water that is needed inside the trailer is carried from the laundry room in buckets provided by the College, and refuse water is discarded at the utility building. The bathroom sections are provided with -1O7- toilets, washbowls, a drinking fountain, mirrors, and showers. Two basic types of trailers are available: single trailers are used by couples without children; expansible or double trailers are available to couples who have children. The basic facilities in both types are the same except for the difference in space. The large trailers are arranged in two quite separate rooms. in the single trailers, two closet doors may be opened.up to cut off one section of the trailer to be used as a bedroom. Kerosene or gasoline stoves are provided for cooking in each trailer, but two- burner electric stoves with oven have been purchased by many couples. Other equipment that comes Wlbh the trailers includes an icebox, two studio couches, a table, four chairs, and a sink. Closets and drawers are built in the walls. The trailers are heated by means of fairly efficient oil stoves. Twenty-six couples live in trailers other than those in he College Camp. These are parked in conmercial camps. Some live in trailers that they own themselves and others rent the trailers from.the ca.‘. It can be seen from Table 32 that a third of the sample are Trailer Camp dwellers and another 30 percent live in private apartments. The only other sizable grOups are the 12 percent who live in their own homes and the 11 percent living in single rooms. The proportions of different types of dwellings in the sample are not necessarily representative of the total married Michigan State College universe. The Trailer Camp, for example, is disproportion- ately represented because its inhabitants could be contacted most - 108 - readily by the questioners. Length of residence. Fifty—four percent,(292), of the couples have lived in their present residence for less than six months and only four percent have lived there for as long as 18 months. This would be expected in a college sample and one chosen so soon after the veterans began to enter college in large numbers. TABLE 33: Length of time the couples have lived at their present residence. Numbea Percent Under 1 mo. 50 9 1 up to 2 mos. 29 4 2 to 3 mos. 162 30 4 to 5 mos. 60 ll 6 to 11 mos. 173 32 12 to 17 mos. ~ 56 10 18 mos. or over 21 4 (No response) _JED (.4) 544 TABLE 34: Length of time the couples have lived at their present residence according to the type of residence. - 109 - TABLE 34: (Cont'd) Length of time lived at present residence Less than 2 to 5 6 to 11 12 to 17 18 mos. _§_month§_l_gpnths months month§_ & over N 9? #% if #TrW‘ Trailer Camp 24 (45) so (54) 41 (75) 4 g 7? o (o). 181 With parents 2 ( 1) 50 (20) 28 (11) 10 4 10 (4) 40 Private house 5 ( 3) 39 (26) 28 (19) 15 (11) 12 (8) 67 Private apt. 9 (14) 35 (59) 32 (52 17 (28) 5 (9) 162 Single room 12 ( 5) 78 (42) 10 ( 5) 0 ( O) O (O) 53 Off-Campus Trailer 0 ( O) 54 (14) 34 ( 9) 12 ( 3) 0 (0) 26 Different towns 9 ( 1) 55 ( 6) 18 ( 2) 18 ( 2) 0 (0) 11 (No response) __(3) 544 The Trailer Camp group includes 24 percent who had lived there less than two months. In fact, 41 of these 45 had lived there for less than one month.l. The entire Trailer Camp group necessarily had lived there for no longer than one year, for the Camp was not inhabited before that. In contrast to the Trailer Camp residents, the other groups do not include many who had lived in their present residence for less than two months. Many of these are couples who have been waiting to be admitted to the Trailer Camp, and will probably live there as soon as there is a place for them. Among the group who are living in single rooms, 12 percent have lived there for less than two months, another 78 percent for less than six months, and 10 percent more for 6 to 11 months. Thus, 1. The distribution of questionnaires was not random as to length of residence of Trailer Camp couples. A group of forty who had lived in their present residence for less than one month was intentianally tapped, for it was desired to obtain a group of new residents that was large enough to compare with older residents. - 110 — 100 percent of these people have lived under these conditions for less than a year. This results partly from the fact that those who came last were forced to take what was left. The earlier arrivals obtained the Trailers and.apartments. However, this group is probably the most anxious and is exerting the most pressure to get better accomodations. Therefore, the turnover of single room dwellers would undoubtedly be faster than that for the other types of residence. If this is correct, those who are in single rooms now, are waiting to leave and will leave sooner than will those in the other type of residence. The oldest residents are those in their own rented or owned homes. Twenty-eight percent have lived there for a year or more. Next, are those who live in their own apartments: 23 per— cent have been there for at least 12 months. Third, are those who live with their parents, with 20 percent having lived there for a year or more. These couples may find the arrangement of living with parents so economically advantageous and so much of their parents' equipment at their disposal, that they will not take college housing when it is ready. Eighty-two percent of those who are forced to reside in different towns have lived under those conditions for less than a year. It would be natural for peOple who live this way to do it for a comparatively short time. Either the husbands are planning to attend college for such a short time that it does not seem worth while to move their families to the school, or else suitable quarters - lll - cannot be found in which to house the family. In either case, living under those conditions is temporary, until the adjustment as been made either by the husband's finishing school and return- ing to his family, or by the family's securing a place to live at the college. While none of those who live in a trailer which they park in a private camp have lived there for less than two months, 88 percent have been there for less than a year. Without knowing how many of these trailers are rented and how many are owned by the couples, it is impossible to judge whether this group is likely to accept college housing when it is available. Even those who own their trailers may try to sell them when different living arrange- ments are ready for them. These differences in the lengths of time that the various residence groups have lived in their present dwelling, may be made more clear by examining another factor. The length of time that the couple has been married is apparently related to the type of dwelling in which they now live. Table 35 shows the proportions of the groups who married after, during, and before the War who are now living in the seven types of residence. - 112 - TABLE 35: Type of residence the couple lives in according to the length of time they have been married. Eben Married Where live now W M T- - '1 p Trailer Camp 23 (41) 40 (113) 33 (35) With parents 8 (l4) 8 ( 23) 4 ( 3) Private home 9 (16) ll ( 30) 27 (21) Private apartment 35 (62) 28 ( 80) 24 (19) Single room 17 (31) 7 ( 21) 4 ( 3) Off-Campus Trailer 5 (10) 4 ( 11) 6 ( 5) Different towns 2 f 32 2 g 7) l L_l)_ (177) (285) (78) The pre-War married group is now older,in general, than the groups who married later. This would explain the fact that only four percent (three cases) of those who married before the War now live with parents, while eight percent of each of the other two groups are living with parents. It is probably also true that those who married several‘years ago have previously made some living arrangement separate from their parents and are now accustomed to it. They havemade their financial arrangements, also, and are prepared to live on their own. The College trailers were the most suitable housing arrangement in the vicinity of the College at the time these data 1. were gathered. The trailers are inexpensive, convenient to the ---————-_..-.~.—-_- 1. The prefabricated apartments were not yet built when these questions were answered. At the present time, the apartments are generally favored over the trailers. - 113 - college, and the most certain and steady housing in the area. Thus, they were in much demand, and those who would be able to get the trailers were those who were prepared to occupy them first. Those who had been married the longest had probably made plans for coming to college farther in advance. Since they were usually older 1. in years, they probably did not want to waste any more time about getting into and.out of college. They made preparations early to insure this. The older men were taken into the.Army first and were released first. So again, these couples had a head start on the others. Many of the couples in the sample were not even married until shortly before they were questionned. This might have made these couples later in reserving a trailer than those who were al- ready married. Thus, it is found that 40 percent of the group who married during the War now live in the Trailer Camp, compared to 23 percent of those who did not marry until after the War. Those who married before the War are in the Trailer Camp in greater numbers, (33 percent), than the post-War marriage group, but not in such pro- portions as the 40 percent in the War marriage group. Although those who married before the war would have a greater chance to get to the trailers than would the War marriage group, the smaller number in this older group is undoubtedly accounted for by the fact that 1. See Table 13, for the differences in the ages of the men and women married after, during, and before the War. While those who married before the War, in general, married.younger than those who married after the War, the group who married first is at the present time, the oldest in years. as) anotiwoq — 114 — they gag older, that they have become more used to a settled and well-equipped home life. that they have the moneytn obtain better quarters and that they have children in a greater number of in— l. stances than the War marriage group, thus, finding a trailer inadequate for their enlanded needs. These families chose to obtain the larger, better equipped, and more expensive dwellings. This fact is substantiated, when the percentages who have their own homes is examined. It is seen that only 9 percent of the post- Wa and 11 percent of the War marriage groups rent or own houses, while 27 percent of the group who married before the War do this. It is likewise seen that 24 percent of the pre4War married group rent apartments, (undoubtedly the better ones). Only 11 per- cent of the War married group have apartments because they have been able to get Trailers and desire this inexpensive type of dwelling. Thirty—five percent of those who married after the War have apart— ments, probably because they are forced to, for lack of trailers. The apartments that they are able to rent may be the leavings of 2. the older groups. On the other hand, this higher income group may voluntarily lean toward the more luxurious type of dwelling, the apartment. —--—u..-.- r---‘ --_ —.—' “ - ----- -— 1. See Table 23, for the proportions of the post-War, War, and pre- War married couples who have children. 2. See Table 42 for comparison of the incomes of the groups who have been married different lengths of time. - 115 - Further iniication of the principle of first-come, first— served, is that only four percent of the pre-War married group are now living in single rooms. This type of accomodation is probably desired by very few. It has been seen that this is a very expensive way for couples to live here, and it could not be very comfortable. Thus, the 17 percent of the post-War married group who live this way are undoubtedly forced to do so because they were too late for the better arrangements. Only seven percent of the War married group has this type of living arrangement. Another explanation of these figures may be that the pre- War married group is unwilling to come to school and live in unfavor- able quarters. If they annot find commodious and well-equipped accomodations, they stay at home. The younger groups may come and take their chances, regardless of the residence they are offered. Type of residence and marital satisfaction. Only 65 percent of the 40 wives and 67.5 percent of the husbands who are living with the parents of either spouse, say they are Very Hapfiyx And only 64 percent of the ll wives and 11 husbands who are not living together, are Very Hapqy. But while only 71 per- cent of the wives and 72 percent of the husbands who are living with parents say they have "never considered" divorce, there are 82 percent of the husbands and wives who are not living together who report that they have "never considered" separation. This difference may occur because living with relatives actually develops friction between the - 116 — husband and wife. They may become dissatisfied with one another after living with the family of one or the other of them and having the family take sides in arguments of the couple, point out to one the faults of the other, and interfere less directly in the relations of the husband and wife. The husbandsand wivesvflKJhave their own apartments report satisfaction with their marriage more frequently than do couples living in any other arrangement. More men and women with apartments say they are Very Happy and.tlat they have "never considered" divorce than any other group. There is an especially large Eifference among the wives, between those in apartments and those in other types of dwellings. Those people living in single rooms rank next for the proportions reporting that they are Very Hapty'and.that they have "never considered" separating. And even more of this group than of those living in apartments, say they do not have serious problems. Next in order, are those husbands and wives who live in their own homes, though the position of this group in the order of percent satisfied.with marriage is actually not very definite: this group does not consistently show a propor- tion satisfied according to the three indices (happiness, thoughts of divorce, and seriousness of problems), which definitely places it below those living in apartments and single rooms, and definitely places it above the groups living in other types of dwellings. Those living in the Trailer Camp, however, quite consistently reveal smaller - 117 - proportions srtisfied than do the group of apartment dwellers and those in single rooms, but larger prOportions of satisfied individuals .than do the g‘0ups who live with parents or apart. The Trailer Caip group has the lowest mean income ($158 per month) of all the residence groups. These peOple spend the largest mean proportion (54 percent), of their income for the essen- tilas of food and rent, except for the group who live in single rooms (and spend 60 percent of their income for food and rent). Those living in single rooms, however, have a much larger total income from which to spend their 60 percent for necessities: the mean is $207 a month for this group. The fact that those in single rooms are required to spend so much on food and rent ($112 a month), an amount larger than that by any other residence group, cannot be considered as having great bearing upon the adjustment of these couples, because, unlike the other residence groups, only 10 percent of those now living in single rooms have lived at their present residence for as long as six months. The 90 percent who have lived in a room for less than six months have probably not undergone econ- omic hardship for a long enough period for it to have impaired their marital satisfaction, (if such be the effect of financial hardship and if $112 spent out of an income of $207 be hardship} If it be assumed.that the type of housing accomodation has a relationship to marital satisfaction, the arrangement that would.be expected to have a favorable influence upon satisfaction is probably the private house or apartment and possibly a trailer in the College - 118 - Camp. It is found that 56 percent of those with their own homes and 55 percent of those with up rtments have lived in their present resid nce for at least six months. Thus, if a satisfactory dvelling does have a favorable effect upon marital satisfaction, then it should be evident in the apartment and house dwellers, since such a large proportion of them have been settled in them for some time. Those in apartments actually are happier than the other groups but those with their own homes do nothave an outstanding number of Very Happy members. The husbands in the group who have their own homes have a very large percentage who have no serious problems, but the wives are not remarkable even in this respect. The financial set-up of these two groups does not explain the greater proportion of satisfied members in the apartment group, for they are almost identical as to earnings and spending: the total income for those with houses is $224 and for those with apartments is $215 a month. Food and housing costs those with houses a mean of $108 a month and the apartment dwellers $102. But there is one factor on which these two groups do differ greatly: three times as many couples in the group who have their own homes married before the War as married after the War, while 11 percent more of the apartment dwellers married after the War than married before. The length of time married clarifies many differences in happiness in this study. Groupings of individuals which contain a disproportionate share of newly married couples, include a large share of the completely satisfied individuals. - 119 — The smaller percentage of maritally satisfied people in the Trailer Camp may also be partially explained by this factor: 10 percent more of this group married before than married after the Wrr, and the greatest share of the Trailer Crmp couples married during the tar. No other residence group had such a large percentage marrying in this period. Thus, the Trailer Camp may be a highly satisfactory place in which to live, but this can not be ascertained by comparing the happiness of this group with other residence groups, since so few of the couples living in the Trailer Camp are newlyweds. Those living in single rooms included almost as many thoroughly satisfied individuals as did the apartment dwelling group. Four times as many couples who were married rfter the War as of those who were married before the War, live in single rooms. Thus, the fairly high proportion of maritally satisfied men and women in the group who live in single rooms may be only a reflection of the large representation of newlyweds. For, if living in a single room bears upon marital happiness, it is probably not in the direction of Ho mproving it. The post-War and Wartime married sections of the sample include larger shares of couples living with parents or living apart than does the pre—War section. Thus, the s all number of satisfied men and women who live'under these conditions cannot be explained by showing that they have by and large, been married longer, for most of them have been married but a short time. Those who are not living _ 120 _ together at the college may have reported that they were dissatis- fied with their marriage when they did not mean that they were tired of their mate or dissatisfied with him, but only with their separa- tion. Thirty—six percent of these couples have been living apart for as long as six months, sa the arrangement has had time enough to become irksome for many. Chance could easily have accounted for this divergence in the small sample of couples who are living apart. Forty-eight percent of the couples living with parents have lived that way for six months or more. This is the one arrangement which could, in itself, disrupt the harmonious interaction of the couple. The mean income of these couples is $179 a month,second lowest only to tine Trailer Camp couples. But the couples living at home spend only a mean of 36 percent of their income for food and rent. This is cer- tainly a favorable economic arrang ment, but it may also reflect the enmeshing of the couple's interests with those of the parents. The couple is fine cially obligated to or dependent upon the parents. It is possible that their independence as adult married people with separ te lives to live, is hampered through this close relation- ship to the parents. To this extent, the marriage relationship may be tampered with and impaired. - 121 - TABLE 36: Reported marital happiness of wives and husbands according to the type of housing accomodations they have arranged. As reported by wives: Housing accgmodat ions: Ve hap __ Happy Avera e _Ii 75 15‘ /° # Trailer Camp 75.5 (136) 20.5 ésv) 4 g 7) (180) With parents 65 ( 26) 32.5 18) 2.5 1) ( 40) *House 78 ( 52) 13 ( 9) 9 ( 6) ( 67) *Apartment 82 (133) 14 (23) 4 ( 6) (162) **Single room 78 ( 65) 17 $14) 5 g 4) ( 83) Not together 64 ( 7) 36 4) o O) 11 543 As reported by husbands: Trailer Camp 67 (121) 25 (45) 8 (15) (181) With parents 67.5 ( 27) 27.5 (11) 5 E 2; ( 40) House 70 ( 47) 25 (17) 5 3 ( 67) Apartment 75 (121) 20 (32) 5 < 9) (162) Single room 73 ( 61) 17 (14) O ( 8) ( 83) Not together 64 ( 7) 36 ( 4) 0 ( O) :1: * Those who are live in their dwelling by themselves. house. tabulated.under the c tegory of "House" or "Apartment" They either rent or own the ** Those who live in a trailer some here besides the College Trailer Camp, are grouped with those who have a "single room." - 122 - TABLE 37: The seriousness with which wives and husbands have considered separation according to the type of housing accomodations they have arranged. Housing agcomodations Trailer Camp With parents House Apartment Single room Not together Trailer Camp With parents House Apartment Single room Not together As reported.by wives: Never considered_ 7 71.5 (129) 71 ( 29) 7o ( 47) 84 (136) 81 ( 67) 82 ( 9) As reported.by husbands: 79 72 78 82 82 82 (143) ( 29) ( 52) (133) E 68) 9) E. (180) ( 4O) ( 67) (162) ( 83) 11 543 (181) ( 40) ( 67) (162) ( 88) Not Somewhat seriously seriously;_ g;_seriously, %2 if 75 #7 20.5 (37) 8 (14 19 ( 7) 10 ( 4) 2o (13) 10 ( 7) 13 (21) 3 ( 5) 12 (10) 7 ( 6) 9 ( l) 9 ( 1) 17 (3o) 4 ( 8) 20 ( 8) 8 ( 3) 12 ( 8) 10 ( 7) 9 (15) 9 (14) 11 ( 9) 7 ( 6) 9 ( 1) 9 ( 1) 11 544 The seriousness of the most troublesome - 1 23 — TABLE 38: problem, as reported by wives and by husbands, according to the type of housing accomodations. Housing accomodations: Trailer Camp With parents House Apartment Single room Not together Trailer Camp With parents House Apartment Single room Not together As reported by wives: serious 19 (34) 27.5 (11) 27 (18) 18 (3o) 22 (18) 27 ( 3) As reported by husbands: 22 27.5 21 19 22 37 (39) (11) (14) (31) (18) ( 4) Extremely, quite, or moderately Not very serious )0 34 (61) 25 (10) 24 (16) 80 (48) l7 (14) 27 ( 3) 35 37.5 27 31 29 18 64 ( ) (15) (18) (50) (24) ( ) 2 Trivial 27 (48) 3o (12) 22 (15) 29 (47) 24.5 (20) 37 ( 4) 888888 Not worth mentioni o 20 (37) 17.5 ( 7) 27 (18) 23 (37) 36.5 (31) 9 ( l) 14 (25) 15 ( 6) 22 (15) 19 (30) 29 (24) 18 ( 2) (181) ( 4O) ( 67) (163) Income and marital satisfaction In the preceding discussion of the relation of type of housing to marital satisfaction, it was shown that the data were complicated by at least two other factors: income and length of time married. That is, couples living in some types of residences included a larger proportion of newly married couples or of people with high incomes, than did those in other living arrangements. Thus, the present section will analyze the relation of income to marital satisfaction, of income to length of time married, and finally, of income to marital satisfaction with the factor of length of time married controlled. . In Table 89, it may be seen that for husbands, there are three percent fewer of those with incomes above the median who are Very Happy than of those with incomes below the median, ($190 for the whole sample). Further, two percent more in the low income than in the high income group have "never considered" divorcing their mates. These differences are not significant. There is no difference at all between the below median and above median groups for the pro- portions with serious problems. For every degree of seriousness or triviality of problem, there are almost identical prOportions of husbands with incomes above and of husbands below the median income. For wives, however, there is a definite tendency for hig income to be associated with Larital satisfaction. Eight percent more wives with family incomes above the median are Very Happy than - 125 - of wives with below median incomes. And 6.5 percent more have "never considered" divorce in the group with high incomes. But this trend is not borne out in the third test of marital satisfaction, for 12 percent more wives with low incomes have "trivial“ or "not worth mentioning“ problems. Or, the group with high incomes more frequently have “extremely," "quite," "moderately," and "not very serious" problems than do those with low incomes. TABLE 39: Reported marital happiness of wives and of husbands according to the total income of the couple. As reported by wives: Total inggme: . V Hap Ha p % # % # Above median income 81 (220) 16 Below median income 73 (190) 21 As reported by husbands: Above median income 69 (188) 24 Below median income 72 (196) 21 Average or Unhappy; % # 3 ( 9) 6 (15) 7 (18) 7 (19) I2 (272) (272) as 544 Above Below Above Below Above Below Above Below - 126 — TABLE 40: The seriousness with which wives and husbands report they have considered separation, according to the total income of the couple. As reported by wives: Never con- Not Somewhat seriously sidered.it spriously, or serigusgy 13 cf d» a, P .— ja * I0 # fa # median income 80.5 52193 14 (38) 5.5 (15) (€73) median income . 73 199 19 (51) 8 (22) {oral 344 As reported by husbands: median income 79 (215) 14 E38) 7 (19) (272) median income 81 (219) 13 33) 7 (20) ?:§ 6 - TABLE 41: The seriousness of the most troublesome problem, as reported by wives and by husbands, according to the total income of the couple. As reported by wives: Extremely, quite Not very Not worth or moderately serious ‘_I‘_rivial mentionim E % # % # % # % # median_income 25 (68) 3O (81) 35 (68) 30 E54) 371 median inCOme 17 (48) 26 (71) 29 (78) 38 77) gggg Q As reported by hus ands: median income 22 (80) 31.5 (86) 28 (75) 18.5 (5 median income 21 (57) 32 (87) 28 (77) 19 (r - 127 - It would be expected the t the group with high incomes would show a large proportion of satisfied members, for this group includes a la r;-< 3e number of newlyweds and of couples with no children, (to be discussed below). These two factors will be shown to be associated.with marital satisfaction. But the data indicate that at lea st for husbands, there is, if anything, a slightn negative rel ation— ship between income and happiness. When the factor of length of time married is held constant, a different pattern is revealed. First, the income variances of the groups who have been married different lengths of time, will be analyzed. The largest share of low income couples are found among the group who married during the War: 42 percent of this group have total incomes that are above the median for the whole sample, while 51 percent of those who married before the War, and 56 percent of those who married after the War, have incomes above the inedian income 1. of $190 a month. Since 98 percent of the wives who married after the War have no children, they are free to work outside the home, and a large proportion of them do. This accounts for the large number of families married a ter the Wer who are drawing high incomes. Only 44 percent of the wives who married before the War have no children. The presence of children not only slices into the money 1. Eight percent of the pre-War married couples have incomes at the median. Thus, 59 percent have incomes of $190 or over. When broken down this way, the pre-Wa r and post- War groups are almost the same, for 61 percent of the post-War married group have incomes at _o_1_'_ above the median. - 128 - that the family can spend for pleasure, but it also cuts the earning power by keeping the wife at home. The mean monthly in- come of all the couples with no children is $204; for those with a child it is $156. Even of those women in the pre-War group who do not have to stay home and care for their children, a smaller proportion are working than of the younger women who make up the post-War married.group. The 51 percent of this group who receive incomes of over $190 a month are not so frequently getting their income in excess of the G.I. pay from the wife's working but instead, from some money earning arrangement that the husband has made after his several years of experience in supporting a family. The group who married during the War have been married long enough so that 39 percent of the wives have children. But they have not been married long enough for the husband to have had an opportunity to support a family as a civilian. So when he comes to college, he does not have any money earning arrangement worked out with which he can sup?lement his $90 a month from the Government. At the same time, a large number of the wives in this group are removed from the working market because they have children. Thus, the group who married during the War, do not, at this time, have the extra earnings of working wives as often as do the post-War married fam- ilies, and neither do they have the earning provisons that the pre— War married.husbands have made after their years of supporting a family; _ 139 _ TABLE 42: Total income of the couple according to the length of time they have been married. Total monthlv income How long Above At the Below married median median ($1930) median Ll Post-War 56 (101) 5 Egg 39 E 89? 179 Wartime 42 5122) 3 9 55 154 285 Pre-War 51 4o) 8 (6) 41 ( 32) :9 The other aspect of the income differential of the groups who have been married different lengths of time, is the cost of rearing children. The post-War married group has the largest number of substantial incomes and yet it has only two children to support, in a group of 179 families. Thus, the actual amount of money with which these couples can enjoy life is larger even than the previous figures seemed to indicate. The group without children spend $90.8 a month for food.and rent, while the couples with a child spend $89.7. The money used for these necessities by the families with children, of course comes from an average income that is smaller by $60 than the income of those without children. So undoubtedly, the couples with children are scrimping even on necessities more than they would normally do. But besides having to spend 61 percent of their income for food and rent, while those without children spend a median of 48 percent of their income, the group with children must also spend additional money for clothing, doctors, and equipment for the child that the childless couples are not required to spend. These factors - 130 - emphasize even more, the actual income differential between the group who married after the War and have no children, and the group who married before, or especially, during the War, and in many cases have children. It is possible, however, that those who married before or even during the War, have more substantial savings on which they can rely. The post-War married counles may worry lest some emergency require ready cash or that the wife will become pregnant and their large income cease. But even though the newly married couples may have no savings, (and this is not authenticated), neither do they have the major financial worry, children. Thus, if a substantial income is associated with marital happiness, the post-War married group should certainly have a larger proportion of satisfied members than do the other two groups. The post-War married group (in Table 43), displays the same trend that the whole sample portrayed. The husbands with below median incomes are more often Very Happy (5.5 percent more often) than are the husbands with high incomes. And the outstanding pro- portion-~90 percent, of wives married after the War who have high incomes are Very Happy,vhile only 75 percent with lower incomes are Very Happy. It is barely possible that the working wives in this groun are joyful at their chance to play the role of wage earner in the family. As college women, they are trained to assume a role other than that of mother, and they are now able to feel that they have full status. The husbands, not fulfilling the role they have - 131 - 1 been taught was the husband's or male's part in society, are frus- trated in their subordination, especially when their own wives are filling the role that they feel should be theirs by rights. Both more husbands and more wives are Very Happy in the War married group .hen they have low incomes than when they have higher incomes. Five and a half percent more wives and 6.5 percent more husbands with below median incomes report that they are Very Happy. It is known that the group of couples with children are not as often p rfectly satisfied with their marriages. The differ- ence in happiness between those with and those without children is especially marked in the War married group, (even more signi- ficant than for the pre-War married couples). Recall, for instance, that 79 percent of the War married.wives with no children are Very Ebppy, but only 65 percent of the ones who do have children 1. are Very Happy. It is also known that the mean monthly incom of those with children is $48 a month smaller than that for all couples without children. Thus, it might be expected that since those with children have less money than those without children, and since those with children are not as often hapwy as those without children, there would be a smaller proportion of iaapy men and women in the War married group -1:52- who have below median incomes. And this could be accounted for either by the presence of children in their lives or by the fact that they lave low incomes. But in spite of the fact that so ma_v of the War married group with low incomes have children, it is still found that there is a larger proportion of Very Happy men and women in this group than there is in the group of War married who have high incomes. The statistics themselves, might be explained by the fact that perhaps those War married couples with children who were unhappy had high incomes, even though those with children are less often happy than those without children and those with children have a lower mern income than those without children. But why would those War married.couples with children who had high incomes, be more unhappy than those with children and low incomes? It may be that the extra struggle that was needed to make this extra income was exceedingly painful. In this sample, higher income does not, even in most cases, mean that the husband.has a better paying job, as it does in the working p0pulation that is not attend— ing school. Among the post-Var married group, it has been seen that higher income u ually means that the wife is working, and in this group, that does not seem to adversely affect happiness. But in the War married group with children, a tremendous amount of xtra effort may be required if the income is to be broughtin over $190. If the wife works outside the home, the husband must make a sacr'fice - 133 - to care for the children. .And if the husband works, himself, to make this exara money, he is sacrificing part of his college educa- tion to do so. Thus, obtaining a high income may place a‘strain upon the family with children that it does not inflict upon a couple who has no children. This, then,may account for the fact that more couples in the War married group with above median incomes are unhappy than of those with below median incomes. The couples who married before the War are more often Very Hapjy'when they have above median incomes. Eight percent more wives and nine percent more husbands with high than with low incomes are Very Happy. After a long period of perhaps several years of secure living, these couples may have been more disturbed by uprooting their homes and giving up their financial security to come to college than were those couples who have never, or only briefly, been settled with steady employment as members of a com- munity. That is, these people who married before the War and who now have below median incomes, may have been financially better off for quite some time before they came to college. Thus, their happi- ness can be assumed to have been impaired only after they gave up their security and entered college. Another possibility is that these couples with below median incomes have had financial insecurity for some time, and that after a few years of it, happiness has grad- ually become impaired. It was found among the War married group that lower income did not usually go with unhappiness. Perhaps, among the War married group, too, in a few more years, if the low income con- tinues, happiness will lessen. Financial insecurity may take several years to work injury. _ 1’ TABLE 43: Reported marital happiness of wives and of husbands by length of time married,according to total income Total income by length of time married: Post-War married: $190 or above Below $190 War married: $190 or above Below $190 Pre-War married: $190 or above Below $190 Post-War married: . $190 or above Below $190 War married: $190 or above Below $190 Pre-War married: $190 or above Below $190 of the couple. As reported by wives: Very Happy 7 # 9o (98) 75 (52) 70 (93) 75.5 (116) 79 (37) 71 (22) 77.5 (85) 83 (57) 62.5 (83) 69 (106) 70 (33) 61 (19) Hanp % # 8 ( 9) 22 (15) 24 (82) 19.5 (30) 17 ( 8) 19 ( 6) As reported by husbands: 2o (22) 14 (1 ) 26.5 (35) 24 (37) 23.5 E11) 26 8) Average or Unhappy P # 2 ( 2) 3 ( 2) 6 ( 8) 5 ( 7) 4 ( 2) 10 ( 3) 2.5 ( 3) 3 ( 2) 11 (14) 7 (11) 6.5 E 3) 13 4) (109) ( 69) (133) (153) A 03 +5 CHAPTER VI LUST IITC— TIE IZATE 1 The present study indicates tnat there is a relationship between the circumstances under which a couple first met and their reported marital happiness. This relatiunshin cannot be considered as causal, however. In order to say that there is a direct connec— tion between these two factors, it is necessary to find that when a.coup1e first meets in an "unacceptable" way, the furtive and illicit nature of the meeting hangs as a constant disruptive shadow over them as they later interact in courtship and “arriage. But this is apparently not true. It will be shown in this chapter that some factors, such as length of engagement anl acquaintance before marriage, and length of time the couple has been married, are in some way associ ted both with the circumstances of first meeting and with marital happiness. Place of meeting is probablv only incidentally related to marital hapiiness through the association of both to these other factors. "Acceptable" meetings Sixty-two percent of the couples in the sample met in what are considered "acceptable" circumstances. Another 10 percent met at work, a situation that has not been delinitely categorized by society as "acceptable". Certain situations are socially approved as meeting places because in them, the individual is able to meet, under monitored conditions, a mate who is in his own "station in life". - 136 n Further, a gradual acquaintance period is possible in these settings before actual dating or courting begins. The college setting is a type of meeting which fulfills these requirements, for the group who attend college (re select as to background and interests, and their meetings are supervised. Thirteen percent of the couples in the present sample first met at college. Secondary schools gather together much more heterogeneous groups of young peOple than do the colleges, but the protracted period for observation which usually follows this type of meeting is thought to ensure a yore intelligent choice of mite. Twenty-one percent of the whole group met under these circumstances. The thirty—four per- cent of the sample who met either in secundrry school or college may be compared with the twenty—five percent of Ter.an's group who met 1. in this way. Aeruaintances that begin d ring a church affair are thought to be enshrouded in the wholesome aura of religion. Religious cer- emonies, young people's societies, church Socials, and other formal social clubs which gather "respectable" peOple together for a "respectable" purpose, are all beli ved to be opportunities for meeting "good girls" and "fine young men". In this sample, seven percent met under these circumstances. Meeting through neighbors or one's own family is also a highly acceptable way of getting acquainted. When young people meet in the neighborhood or through their families, they often 1. Terman, P. 196. — 157 - know each other quite well for several years before marriage. mhis is considered to be a sound foundction for a marriage. Further, the family is able to sift out those in the neighborhood with whom they do not wish their children to associate. When the child marries a U person who is a friend of the family or neiwhbor, the parents feel confident about what kind of spouse their child is getting. Friends of the family are ap roved because they are "our kind of people." Only 28 percent of the sample met in these circumstences or through 1. the church, compared to 49 percent of Terman's group. There is no family supervision over friends that are first known at work. There may be some apprehension lest a mate whom one as met in this specialized atmosphere prove disappointing when he is seen in the manifold relationships involved in marriage. However, at work there is the opportunity to observe associates daily, and there is the assurance thrt at least some of the elements of the work situation may be held in common and will serve as a bond. This type of meeting will be considered separately. "Unacceptable" meetings Twenty-five percent of the couples in the sample met under whet society considers "unacceptable" circumstances. fleeting at a party, dance, or commercial recreation without a formal introduction, or on a "blind date" or "pick-up" are not approved ways of getting acquainted.with a marriage partner. Courting begins immediately with - 138 - this type of meeting, without an acQuaintance period first, and without first having the opinions of family or close friends. Further, the type of person who can be met in this setting is considered an unsuitable marriage partner. Girls, especially, who are willing to obtain dates in tbis way, are thought to be undesir- able mates. TABLE 44: Circumstances under which the couples first met. Number Percent College 72 13 Church, Church Social, or Club 3 7 Through neighbors or family 112 21 High School or Grade School 113 21 Work (including Army work) 56 10 Party; dance (No formal intro.) 84 15 Blind date 41 7 Pick-up 15 3 (Miscellaneous) ( 9) ( 2) (No response) ( 52 ( 11 N .-.- 544 100% Length of time married If those who met in either "acceptable" or "unacceptable" settings be considered, (with those who met at work excluded), it is found that 83 percent of Terman's group compared to 70 percent of the present sample, met in an approved manner. That is, 13 percent more of the student group met in an "unacceptable" setting than of Terman's group. Table 45 compares the proportions of "acceptable" and "unacceptable" meetings in the Terman sample, and - 139 - the total Michigan State College sample. The College group shows a small prOportion who met as neighbors, through their families or the church compared to the Terman sample. The main characteristic distinguishing the two samples may be that so many in the current group married during or after a War. For when the meetings of the pre_War, Wartime, and post-War married couples in the College sample are compared, as in Table 46, it is found that those in the student sample who married before the War compare favorably with the Terman sample for the proportion who met in an "acceptable" setting. Only six percent of the post-War, four percent of the Wartime, but 18 percent of the pre-Wer married couples, met at a church function or other regulated club. In Wartime, the regular channels for meeting members of the opposite sex were closed off to many young people. After the men were taken into the Service, they were no longer able to interact in these community organizations. This may alsg explain why slightly more of those who married after the War than of those who married during, or especially before the War, met their mates in high school. For those men who were taken into the Service shortly after they left high sdhool were usually pre- vented from meeting mates in churches, community organizations, and colleges, during the years that they would normally have been meet- ing girls through these channels. Thus, those who were not alrealy married when War came, more frequently had only high school acquain- tances to come back to as marriagepartners. - 140 _ It was the War married group who most frequently met at parties or dances without a formal introduction, on ”blind d tes," or on "pick-ups." More of the post—War and WPr married couples also met in the work situation. The women who served in the Armed Forces or worked as civilians at Army installations, were the ones men could meet, and thus, marry, most readily. fiany of the Wartime or post-War married couples, then, probably married mates whom they met at public dances, on "blind dates," "pick—ups," or at work, because they did not have the opportunity to meet in “acceptable" settings. TABLE 45: Comparison of the circumstances under which the couples in the Termen sample and in the Michigan State sample first met their mates. Circumstances of [The_§§moles: first meeting 4*Terman M,S.C. Samole %’ ¥' %' i? Neighbor, Church, Club 49 (363) 28 (149) Dance, Party, Pick-up 9 ( 71) 25 (140) (Travel or resort) 5 ( 40) ~ ” School or college 35 (185) 34 (185) Business contact 12 ( 86) 10 ( 56) (Miscellaneous) '- "' 3 L312). (745) (544) — 141 ~ TABLE 46: The circumstances under which the couples first met their mates, according to the length of time they have been married. Length.2£ time married Circumstances of first meetiqg Post-War Wartime Pre—War % # % # College 14 ( 26) 12 ( 35) 14 (11) Church, Church Social, Club 5 ( 11) 4 ( 13) 18 (14) Neighbors or family 23 ( 42) 19 ( 55) 19 él5) High or grade school 23 ( 41) 20 ( 56) 18 14) Work (including Army work) 11 ( 19) 11 ( 31) 7 ( 5) Party, dance (No formal intro.) 11 ( 20) 18 ( 53) 15 (12) Blind date 7 E 12) 9 ( 25) '7 ( 5) Pick-up 2 4) 4 ( 10) 1 ( 1) (Miscellaneous) (2) ( 3) (2) ( 5) (No response) (1) ( 1) (1) g 3) (1) g 1) (179) (285) (78) Reported marital satisfaction Even though the factor of meeting the mate is associated with the length of time married, it is not related to marital hap- piness in the same direction as time married, as were so many of the other factors tested. It was described in Chapter III that the couples who were married the most recently were the most fre- quently satisfied with their marriages. It was further pointed out that other factors related to length of time married.were also as- sociated with marital satisfaction. For example, Table 13 showed that the couples who married after the War generally married older than the other couples. And Table 3 revealed that those who married at a late age were more often happy with their marriages than those -143- a ;who married young. t was questioned whether the greater hap- piness of these couflles was related to their lrte marriage :ge, or whether marriage.age and happiness only appggggd to be directly associated through the relation of both to length of time merried. Other factors such as education level and presence of children were also related both to happiness and.len;th of time married. But the circumstances under which the couple first met could not be associated to marital satisfaction through its relationship to the time the couple has been married. For the couples who have been married a short period of time more often met in "unacceptable" settings, and while it is the newlyweds who more frequently are satisfied with their marriages, the couples who met in “acceptable" settings are more often happy than are those who met under "unacceptable" circumstances. Tables 47 and 48 portray the relationship between the way in which the mate was first met and reported happiness and the ser- iousness with which separation has been considered. A rather striking difference is observatfle between the proportions of satisfied husbands and.wives, on the one hand, who met on "blind dates," "pick-ups," parties, dances, or public recreation, and those, on the other hand, who met through the more formal channels of introduction. Only 68 percent of the wives and 65 percent of the husbands who met on "blind dates" or "pick—ups," compared to 82 percent of both wives and hus- bands who met at college, are Very Happy with their marriages. Those who met at college also include a larger proportion who have "never considered" divorce than do those who met on "blind dates" - 148 - or "pick-ups." In general, those who met in "unacceptable" settings are less frequently satisfied.with their marriages than are those who met in “acceptable" ways. The couples who met at work show a very large proportion who are satisfied with their marriages. This setting was not clas- sified as an "acceptable" meeting situation because the public does not believe that it invariably brings young peOple in contact with suitable marriage partners, or under monitored conditions. But actually, this situation seems to bring tOgether people who are able to work out very satisfactory marriages. The Opinrtunity to observe work associates closely may insure as thorough a weeding out of unsuitable mates as does the college setting. Mates selected from among high school acquaintances are not as certain to be suitable as those chosen in college. This is probably because of the much more highly selected and homogeneous group who attend college. Thus, mates who have been met in "unacceptable" settings may be considered sligltly greater risks for the members of this samole than mates chosen in "acceotable" situations. It is not logical that any harm could come from the meeting situation itself. The explanation probably lies in the fact that the "unacceptable" set- tings do not present members of the opposite sex with whom one will be most compatible, and (or) that there is not as good an opportunity for observing the potential mates before marriage when they are met in the "unacceptable" settings. _ 144 _ TABLE 47: Reported happiness of husbhnds and of wives, according to the circumstances under which the couple first met. As reported by wives: Circumstances of first meeting; Very Happy; Hahn: Averane (If? #I if P 'fi' College 82 (59) 15 (11) 3 (2) High, grade school so (90) 19 (22) 1 (1) Church; Social org. 86.5 (32) 13.5 ( 5) O (O) Neighbors; family 77 (86) 19 (21) 4 (5) Work; Army duty 80.5 (45) 12-5 ( 7) 7 (4) Blind date; pick-up 68 (38) 23 (13) 9 (5) Party; dance (public) 71 (59) 23 (18) 7 (6) As reported.by husbands: College 82 (60) 14 (10) 4 (8) High, grade school 62 (69) 32 (35) § (7) Church; Social org. 81 (so) 16 ( 6) 5 (1) Neighbors; family 71.5 (80) 21.5 (24) 7 (8) Work; Army duty 75 (42) 20 (11) 5 (E) Blind date; pick—up 65 E37) 25 (14) 10 Egg Party; dance (public) 68 57) 23 (19) 9 - 145 - TABLE 48 The seriousness with which separation has been considered, by wives and by husbands, according to the circumstances under which the couple first met. Circumstances of College High, grade school Church; Social org. Neighbors; family Work; Army duty 31 ind dat e; pick—up Party; dance (public) Never gongidereg ,0 82 (59) 77 (87) 76 228) 80 9O) 84 (47) 68 (38) 69 (57) As reported by wives: As reported by husbands: College High, grade school Church; Social org. Neighbors; family Work; Army duty Blind date; pick—up Party; dance (public) 88 (64) 78 (87) 86.5 E52) 81 91) 88 (49) 68 (39) 74 (59) or; seriogsly N If H H mmmHCfif—‘q NmOWLU‘QG3N VVVVVVV A C? 38 Not Somewhat seriously serigusly # r 12.5 ( 9) 5.5 (4) 18 (2o) 5 (6) 13 ( 5) 11 (4) 14 (16) 6 (6) 12 ( 7) 4 (2) 21 (12) 11 (6) 23 (19) 8 (7) 7 ( 5) 5 (t) 17 (19) 5 Eb) 5.5 ( 2) 8 3) 18 (14) 6 (T) 9 ' ( 5) 5.5 (2) 21 (12) 11 (6) 14 (12) 12 (10) - 146 - Age at marriage The men and women who married at a late age are found to have met their mates in "unfcceptable" settings more frequently than are those who married young. Twenty-eight to 80 percent of the wives who married between the ages of 17 to 21 first met their mates under "unacceptable" circumstances, while 36 percent of those who married at age 24 or 25 and 40 percent of those who waited until at le st age 36 to marry, met in "unacceptable" settings. The larger proportion who met in an "unacceptable" manner occurs among those who married late in spite of the fact that those who married late and those with “acceptable" meetings more often are satisfied with their marriages than are those who married young and those with "unacceptable" mettings. But the fact that those who marry late are more frequently newlyweds,(those who married after the War), may account for the large number of older marrying people who met in "unacceptable" settings. The couples who were forced to wait through the War before marrying were unable to meet members of the opposite sex through the customary or "acceptable" hannels. These couples who met in "unacceptable" ways were older when they married, also as a result of the War. The age at marriage and the type of setting for meeting the spouse wore probably both associated with the times in which the couple married. Thus, perhaps there is no direct relationship between the age at :arriag and the way in which the mate was first met, but they are associated only through the — 147 — length of time the couple has been married. TABLE 49 Circumstances under which the mate was first met according to the age at marriage of wives. Age at marriage of wives Circumstances of -—--—--—------ meeting spouse; 17-19 20-21_ 213-23 24-3_5__ 26 & 01g}; 210 . it 105' 75'. % T axe: 73" ‘70 .fi" Acceptable 70 ( 78) 72 (134) 72 ( 75) 64 (so) so (15) Unacceptable 80 g 332 28 ‘ 5&1 28 S 292 36 ‘17) 4O LlQl_ (111) (186) (105) (47) (25) Length of engagement and.pre—maritnl vauaintance The couoles with long sequpintances and those with long engagements more frequently met in "acceptable" settings thnn did those who married hastily. The reason may be that only the type of mate whom one meets in college, church, or through one's family can withstand the test of a long acquaintance or engarement period. Those partners who are met as "pick—ups", "blind dates," or at public recreation are more often discovered to be unsuiteble and are rejected if the period of pre-marital rcquaintance is protracted. Or, it may be that mates who are first met in "acceptable" settings tend to be married only after a long acquaintance period. Certainly, some couples who first met in college deliberately wait until they have finished their education before they marry. Table 50 shows the relationship between the length of pre-marital acquaintance period and the circumstances under which - 148 -‘ the mate was first met. About one half of those who married after ’7) -n acqueintence of 17 months or less met in "acceptable" settings and half in "unacceptable" ways. Of those with 18 to 35 month acquaintance before marriage, 58 percent met in "acceptable" sit- uations. Seventy-five percent of those who were acquainted from three up to five years, and 92 nercent of those sequninted for five years or more, met in "acceptable" settings The same type of relationship can be seen in Table 51 between length of engagement and circumstances of meeting the mate. Mates who were met in the three "unacceptable" situations-~party of six months or more. None of the "acceptable" settings includes as large a proportion with short engagements as the three "unaccept— able" ones. The extremes show 38 percent of those who met at church, but 69 percent of those who met at a public dance or party, with engagements of less than six months. In some way, then, both short engagements and short pre-moritel acquaintances are associated with "unacceptable" settings for meeting the mate. - 149 — TABLE 50: Circumstances under which mates were first met according to the length of time the couple was acQuninted before marriag Length Of time Circumstances of meeting mate acquainted before '—- magma Ace en 13:131.? Unncc e33 ”3:1;ng 7“" # 16““ Under 6 months 51 ( 21) 49 (30) 6-17 months 51 ( 47) 49 E46) 18-35 months 58 ( 52) 42 37) 3 up to 5 years 75 ( 76) 25 (36) 5 years or over 92 (136) 8 (12) TABLE 51: Circumstrnces under which mates were first met according to the length of engagement. Length of Engagement Circumstances of meeting; mete: Lees tlieLéJignills Mantegna .0191: a?" n T # College 49 (35) 51 {37; Church, Church Social,Club 38 (14) 62 g8 Neighbors or family 53 (59) 47 (33) High or Grade School 8 (40) 55 (73) Work (including Army) 59 (33) 41 (23) Party, dance (No formal nnno)69 (58) 31 $26) Blind date 59 (24) 41 17) Pick-up so ( 9) 4o ( 6) (Miscellaneous) (No response) 72 87 112 113 56 84 15 9 — 150 - Marital satisfaction and length of engagement, dating, and acquaintance period Long engagements and acquaintances have been found to be more characteristic of the couples who met their mates in "acceptable" settings than of those who met in "unacceptable" ways. And those who met in "acceptable" situations were more often found to be set- isfied with their marriages than were those who first met "unaccept- ably." It is further found that those Who moved more slowly into marriage are more frequently satisfied with their marriages than are those who married hastily. The relationship between reported marital happiness and the length of pro-marital acquaintance, dating, and engagement is seen in Tables 52 and 53; and in Tables 54 and 55 is presented the relationship between the seriousness with which separation has been considered and the length of acquaintance, dating, and engagement period. A larger proportion, especially of the wives, who had long pre-manital acquaintances, are Very Happy and have "never considered" separation. Ten percent more of the husbands and 14 percent more of the wives who were acquainted before marriage for five years or more, than of those who were acquainted for less than six months, say they have "never considered" separating. There is a closer relationship between marital satisfaction and a long‘ggtggg'period than there is between satisfaction and a long acquaintance periods An acquaintanceship may continue for many months or years with but little insight being gained Cbout the ' 151 — relationship. But if the frequent and intense interaction of dnting has not, after a long period, revealed the incompatibility of the match, then it is apt to be a safe one. Thus. it is found that the J. long dating periods are more associated.with marital satisfaction than are the short periods. Those who dated for five years or more before marrirge include the largest preportion who are content. The length of time the couple was engaged seems also to Q be related to their marital satisfaction. One—half of the wives and husbands who report that they are Very Happy, were engaged for lgés'than six months, while two-thirds of those who are only Average happy had such brief engagements. Further, among the men and women who have "never considered" separation, fewer than fifty percent were engaged for less than six months; but of those who have considered divorce, many more than one-half were engaged for less than six months. Those who had no engagement at all also make up a larger proportion of the groups who are somewhat dissatisfied with their marrieges than of the Very Happy group and the grouo who have "never considered" separation. It has been found, then, that two of the ideal patterns of courtship behavior-~the long acquain.ance and meeting in a sanctioned setting, "go tOgether," and are actually associated with marital satisfaction. Individuals who meet their spouses in college, high school, church, or neighborhood, may have long pre- marital acQuaintances because these settings tend to present - 152 - the motes years before marriage can be considered: ere very satisfactory beceuse mates chosen and.not because desirable On the other hand, ’"BSo -e resultin ”, .4 settings are more apt to be suitable, which guarantees Irriages are me from such a long ecQu intenceshin preceded the marri: it may be the long acquaintance before marriage that unsuitable mates will be weeded out before The degree to which either of these factors octuelly contracted. is related to meritol satisfaction cannot be determined because they are associated with one another and.both are reinted to marital satisfaction. r d» ll Reported.marital happiness of wives according to the length of pre—marital acquaintance, dzting, and engagement . - 153 — TABLE 52: As reported by wives: Length of acquaintance ibefizzsgrazeassea Less than 6 months 6 to 17 months 18 to 35 months 3 up to 5 years 5 years or more Length of dating zeeeyrijttfls_seasssz Less than 6 months 6 to 17 months 18 to 35 months 3 up to 5 years 5 years or more Ver‘46222z # 76 ( 41) 76 E 86) 75 76) 75.4 ( 86) 81 (130) 77 ( 64) 7o ( 97) 76.5 t 91) 82 89; 83.3 ( 75 LEE5£Q4Q£1§Q£§S§E§E93 Not engaged Less than 1 month 1 to 5 months 6 to 11 months 12 to 23 months 2 years or more 12 11 27 21 17 12 Bang}; p # 13 ( 7) 19 (22) 22 (28) 20.2 E23) 15 26) 16 (13) 23 (32) 21 (25) 16 217) 13.3 12) 21 (21) 4 ( 4) 28 (28) 17 (17) 17 (17) 13 (13) (100) 54) gm; 101 114 160 (543) 83; 139 119) 108 90 (539) TABLE 53: Reoorted marital happiness of husbands according to length of pre-marital acquaintance, dating, and —“a-.-—“ Less than 6 months 6 to 17 months 18 to 35 months 3 up to 5 years 5 years or more Length of dating EeriOQJELEQ‘snouse: Less than 6 months 6 to 17 months 18 to 35 months 3 up to 5 years 5 years or more engagement. As reported by husbands: Length of acquaintance Kerx_Hapnz_ .Lsaaihisi-ssaassaeai= Not engaged Less than 1 month 1 to 5 months 6 to 11 months 12 to 23 months 2 years or more %, 75 ( 39) 72 ( 83) 71 ( 72) 70 ( 80) 68.4 (110) 72.3 ( 60) 69 ( 96) 66 ( 78) 70 ( 76) 78 ( 71) 12.5 ( 48) 10 ( 39) 25 ( 95) 22 ( 86) 17 ( 64) 13.5 L_§g§_ 3", BEE m? 19 19 23 21 27.3 19.3 22 26 26 16.5 17 28.4 16.3 19 11.3 (10) (22) (23) (24) (44) 10) Average or Unhappy % 19 11 38 11 16 # ( 3) (10) ( 6) (11) N ( 52) (115) (101) (115) £161; ( 7) 544 AAA/xix 01 J:- to {U \1 VVVVV \‘lmmrbfihbpfl VVWV v ( 83) (139) (118) $108 91) (539) TABLE 64: Seriousness with which separation has been considered by wives according to length of pre-marital acquaintance, dating, and.engagement. As reported by wives: Length Of acquaintance Never Not Somewhat seriously or before marqyzgg: considered it seriously_ seriouskz 2i % # ¢ # % # Less than 6 months 67 ( 36) 22 12 11 ( 6) ( 54) 6 to 17 months 73 ( 84) 19 21 8 ( 9) (114) 18 to 35 months 77 ( 78) 18 lg 5 ( 5) (101) 3 up to 5 years 79 E 90) 13 (13) 8 ( 9) (114) 5 years or more 81 139) 14 (23) 5 ( 8) 11692_ (544) Length of dating neriod_gi§hysoouse: Less than 6 months 55 ( 55) 33 (19) 11 12) 2123; 6 to 17 months 72 £101; 19 38 3 8; 119 18 to 35 months 76 91 17 12 5) E108i 3 up to 5 years 84 é 91; 11 (10) g ( 3) 90 5 years or more 86 77 11 ‘%539% Length‘g£_§ngayeme_tz Not engaged 11 ( 44) 22 (20) 35 (13) Less than 1 month 9 ( 39) 15 (13) 3 ( 1) 1 to 5 months 27 (113) 28 (25) 24 E 9) 6 to 11 months 22 ( 93) 10 ( 9) 16 6 12 to 23 months 17 69) 19 217) 19 g 2 years or more 14 591 5 5 3 (417) (89) (37) - 156 - TABLE 55: Seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the length of pro-marital acouaintance, dating, and engagement. As reported by husbands: Length of acquaintance ZNever before_marriaggg considered __ §r__.__- " Less than 6 months 73 ( 38) 6 to 17 months 76 ( 88) 18 to 35 months 83 ( 84)_ 3 up to 5 years 78 E 90) 5 years or more 83 134) Length of dating period with spouse; Less than 6 months 71 ( 59) 6 to 17 months 78 (109) 18 to 35 months 82 ‘ 97) 3 up to 5 years 82 ( 88) 5 years or more 84 ( 76) Length of engagement: Not engaged 12 ( 51) Less than 1 month 10 ( 42) 1 to 5 months 24 (105) 6 to 11 months 23 (101) 12 to 23 months 17 ( 74) 2 years or more 14 L_§ll_ Not seriously ,0 17 15 11 13 12 17 13 11 11 15 ( 9) (17) (ll) (15) (19) h #1 10 ( 5) 9 (10) 6 ( 6) 9 (10) 5 ( 8) 12 (10) 9 (12) 7 (.8) 7 ( 8) 1 ( 1) 26 (10) 13 ( 5) 33 (13) 10 ( 4) 15 ( 6) 3 .lel (39) Somewhat seriously or,seriously EL ( 52) £115) 101) (115) $161) (544) ( 83) (139) (118) (108) g 912 (539) AP}EI‘IDIX I CHAPTER I The validity of the data will depend, in part, upon whether or not there is a close relationship among the answers to the three questions concerning, one, happiness of the marriage, two, the troublesomeness of the major problem, and three, the seriousness ndth which divorce has been contemplated. For it was the intent of the qpestioners that all three be directed at the same problem: marital satisfaction. Table I shows the relationship between how happy the informants report their marriage to be, and how serious they rate their major problem. They were asked to check whether they were "Very Happy," "Happy," "Average,“ "Unhappy,"t or "very Unhappy". so one reported that he was "very Unhappy." In rating the serious— ness of their major problem, they were requested to check whether m"Moderately serious," it was "Extremely serious," "Quite serious, "Not very serious," or n"I‘d-vial.“ Several informant: said their problem.was too insignificant to even be included under "Trivial." So, these responses are included in a sixth oategory:— “Problem.not worth mentioning.m The close relationship observed in the table gives some confirmation that the questions were, in the minds of the immormants,in- separably related. The table indicates that among the husbands, fifty-eight percent of the Very Happy husbands state that their number one problem is merely "trivial" or not even worth mentioning. But only 23 percent of the Happy husbands, and 6 percent of the Average or Unhappy husbands rated their major problem as insigni- ficant. The differences are equally as significant for wives. ..153 - A coefficient of correlation , computed for all the wives in the sample between the two factors of how happy the . marriage was rated and.how serious the problem rated number 1,was found to be —.299. The inverse relationship between these two variables is confirmed by this additional statistical technique. In order to rate whether or not the informants had thought about divorce, they were asked to check whether they had "never considered it," "not seriously,“ "somewhat seriously,“ or "seriously" considered it. Table II relates this factor with reported happiness. The table shows that there is a close relationship between how happy the informants say their marriage is, and how seriously they have considered separating from their spouse. Of the Very Happy husbands, 93.5 percent have mnever considered" separation, while only 11 percent of the Average or Unhappy husbands have "never mentioned" it. And 0.3 percent(on1y one husband), of the very Happy husbands, compared to 32.5 percent of the Average or Unhappy husbands, have "seriously considered“ separating. It should be observed that the Very Happy husbands are more apt to have "never considered" divorce than the Average or Unhappy husbands are to have "seriously considered" separating. If there were a perfect relationship between two variables with evenly spaced and equivalent intervals, then all the Very Happy apouses would never have considered separating, and all the Average or unhappy ones would have "seriously considered? it. - 159 - But it is seen that while 93.5 percent of the Very Happy husbands make that part of the relationship very close, a third of the Average or Unhappy husbands have "never considered" it. Nevertheless, the coefficient of the correlation between these two variables is 4:644 for the husbands, confirming the closeness of the relation- ship. A.similar relationship is observable for wives. It is slightly less certain that a wife in this sample who says she is Very Happy will also say she has ”never considered" separating from.her spouse. Eightybeight percent of the Very Happy wives, compared with the 93.5 percent of the Very Happy husbands, have "never eonsidered" separating. Also, the fact that a wife has "not seriously" considered separating does not so frequently mean that she will say she is unhappy in her marriage. For 29 percent of the Average happy wives, compared to 32.5 percent of the husbands have "not seriously" considered it. These diff- erences are not significant even at the .10 level, and the relationship is close for wives, also, as seen in the correl- ation coefficient of12610 for the two variables. A third possible interrelationship of the three basic satisfaction questions is between how seriously the informants have considered divorce, and how serious their major problem was. 1A correlation is the only technique used to bring out this relationship. An r of -.400 was found between these two factors for wives. - 160 - The three factors, the problem, the reported happiness, were all found highly related to been used as measures of marital seriousness of the major and the thoughts about divorce, one another. All three have 31.100688 0 (g: - 151 - TABLE I The seriousness of'the major problem or the marriage, according to the re- ported happiness or the marriage, by wives and by husbands» (Hive a) How Happy is your marriage! Haw Serious Very . Problem i. l is a Happy . Happy: Average ‘ o it o 70 Extremely serious 1 (4) 2 (a) 12.5 (a) Quite serious 2 (9) 11 (11) 42 (10) Moderately serious 12: (50) 19 (19) 29‘ (7) Not very serious 25 (107) 41 (41) 12.5 (s) Trivial ’ ' 31 (129) 17 (17) O (0) Not worth mention 29 $1202 10 $102 4 $12 (419) (100) (24) (Husbands), How Happy is your marriage? How Serious Very . Average or Problem fa is: Happy Happy” Unhappy o f o f‘ o # Extremely serious 1 (3) 5 (6) 16% (6) Quite serious' 2 (6) 10 (13) 22 (a) Moderately serious; 8 (31) 26 (32) 32 (12) not very serious 31 (120) 36 E44) 24 (9) Trivial.r ' 33 (its) 18 22) 6 (2) Not worth mention 25 "£962 5 S61 0 ‘02 (384)_ (123) (37) -162- TABLE II The reported happiness of the marriage according to the seriousness with which separation has been considered, by wives and by husbands. (waves) HbW'Happy is your marriage? Have you ever considered separating from. very your spouse? Happy. Happy Aweragg 7 o f o f /0 Never considered it 88 (371) 45 (45)_ 4 ' (1) Net seriously 10 (40) 41 (41) 33.3 (8) Somewhat seriously 2 (7) ll (11) 33.3 (8) Seriously .2 S1) 3 S3) 29 S7) (419) (100) (24) (Husbands) Hen Happy is your’marriage? Have you ever considered separating from. Very Arerage or your spouse?‘ Ha 7E5222. Unha ’* 7% 1? o {F 5% i; Never considered it 93.5 (359) 58 (71 ll ‘ (4) Not seriously 5.2 (20) 32 (39) 32.5 (12) Somewhat seriously 1.0 (4) 5 (6‘ 24 (9) Seriously .3 S1) 5 S?) 32.5 (12) (384) (123) (37) — 163 - Comparative studies When asked to rate their marital happiness, most of the informants in this study said they were satisified with their marriage. Seventy-one percent of the husbands and seventy-seven percent of the 'wives report themselves as Very Happy about their marriage. This non-normal distribution of happiness ratings that was found in the present study has been feund by others. In the Terman, Burgess and Cottrell, Davis, and Landis studies, there was also crowding at the top of the happiness scale. (See Table III). But the largest proportion of individuals reporting very happy marriages is found in the current college sample. The distinctive characteristics of this group which.might account for this extreme skewedness have been described in Chapter II. —164-- TABLE II I A comparison of the self—ratings of happiness in the present study by wives, and by husbands, and ' the Term Hamiltonf‘fiiurgess and Cottrell,-WM Davis, and Landi studies. Self-rating of marital happiness: verage , unhappy, The studies: Va Ha Ha or ver unha N __..__ 71.22% fflf _rlrm _ Present study Husbands 71 (384) 22 (123) 7 (37) (544) wives 77 (419) 18.5 (100) 4.5 (24) (544) Burgess and Cottrellz 42.6 20.5 27.9 Landis: 48 34.6 17.4 Unsuccessful : very Successful Unsuccessful . but not a Hamilton: Successful Successful (Qualified), to some do ree failure %— f 3% 7. 'Wives 10 43 5 9 12 Husbands 13 43 16 7 10 A.Failure Ended in separation or Divorce 3 18 3 8 Extra- Decidedly Somewhat Decid- ordinarily more than more than About Somewhat edly Extremely Terman: happL Avera s avers. Avera 9 less less. Unha % % i % 90 as % Hu3band3 29.5 36.8 16.3 12.9 209 1.06 001 Wives 3406‘ 35.9 14.7 902 3.0 1.8 008 Very, perfectly, Fairly, or entirely more or less, Davis: happy Happy not altogether Unhappy _ N 5 83 - 7 3 (988) fiemm,lev?f§ 171., T’s choTo Teal Wotan—in Marital Happiness,7[938,— New York, McGraw-HIII, p 2%3. '— a» Hamilton, G. V., A Research in Marriage, New York- Albert 8: Charla. Boni, Inc., 1929,3T'” Mt Burgess, E. W. and Cottrell, L., Predictin Success or Failure in Marria e, Prentice-Hall, Inc., WWW-ff. _- # Wtherine B., Factors In the Sex Life of Twenpy—tm hundred ” Women New York, Harper 8: Fromm-17929. ' _ «fie d s, Judson T., "Length of Time Required to Achieve Adjustment in Marriage ," Am9rican Sociological Review,Volume 11, No. 63, December, 1946, p. 555. — 165 - The relationship between the husband's and the wife's rating of marital adjustment How'well do a.man and his wife agree as to the success of their marriage? Are the well-adjusted, happy husbands married to the adjusted wives, or does information about the husband give no clues about the wife? Coefficients of correlation have been com- puted to show the relationship between the adjustment of husbands and'wives. TABLE IV Coefficients of correlation between the adjust- ments of wives and the adjustments of husbands in the seven areas of marital relationship.' Adjustment area 'a N; Spending family income +.403 542 In-law relationships *.219 5362 Social Activities and recreation +. ' 542 Training and Disciplining Children 4“.500 143 Sex:Relations ' +3648 542 Religion ' +3586 542 Choice of Mutual Friends +.465 542 Basic satisfaction qpestions Ebw happy is your marriage? ' 43537 543 Have you considered separating? +.547 543 How'serious is your number one problem!‘ +2542 543 Based on the correlations in Table IV, the relationship between the husband's and wife's overall marital satisfaction and adjustment in the seven areas is quite high. Dissatisfaction is contagious in a marriage. For instance, if the husband has no in- terest in religion, and does not care whether or not his wife par- ticipates in religious activities, he cannot remain aloof from. - 166 - religious conflict if the wife disapproves of his irreligiousness. The wife's resentment may ruin his "religious“ adjustment just as easily as his refusal to go to church impairs hers. The correl- ation of +3586 indicates that a husband is generally not impervious to his wife's religious interests. The correlationbetween the husband's and wife's adjustmemt in sex relations was the most significant one found, (+3648). This means that when a husband is satisfied.wdth his sex relations the ‘wife is usually satisfied, also, and when the wife is discontented, her husband is dissatisfied too. It may be that dissatisfaction in this area is more difficult to conceal than in any other area. And unsatisfactory behavior by one partner can probably be overlooked 7 less easily in this area than in in-law'relationships.s If the wife's in-laws provoke her, she is apt to record a poor adjustment in this area. But the husband may not be annoyed with them because they are his own parents. Unless the wife's parents distress him in some way, he is apt to report a better adjustment in this area than is his wife. Thus, the correlation of‘+.219 in in-law relationships, is the lowest one found between the husband's and wife's adjustment in an area. The relationships found in the areas of spending the family income, choice of friends, social activities and recreation, and training the children, are significant enough to assume that the in- dividuals are reporting &S‘ "couples" to some extent. That is, the report that the individual gives of his adjustment is highly de- pendent upon his spouse's adjustment. -167- The husbands' and the wives' answers to all three basic satisfaction questions, (the happiness of the marriage, the acute- ness of the major problem, and the seriousness with which divorce has been considered), are positively related, with r's over .5. * While this evidence indicates that for the group, adjustments of the husbands are related to those of their wives in overall sat- isfaction and in each one of the areas, there is clearly room.for sex differences in responses. It will be made clear later that the sample of women is in certain aspects of adjustment, differ- ent from the sample of men. * Using different correlational techniques, Burgess and Cottrell find a close relationship between the husband's and the wife's rating of the happiness of the marriage. P. 38 ff. — 168 - Relation of the various areas to marital success One of the prominent questions to be dealt with is the relation of particular areas of marital interaction to the total marital relationship. Is any one area so vital to marriage hep- piness that a moderate problem concerning it is disrupting to the whole marriage. Are there any areas being tested that are quite insignificant to marriage success? One index of the importance of a particular area is the relative rank gixon to each of seven areas by the informants in regard to how each area caused discord in the home.*' Table V indicates the percentages of men and women reporting each area as the worst trouble-spot in their home, and the percentages reporting each as one of the three most troublesome WI. 4 Question 37 in the questionnaire. - 169 - Among the husbands, spending the family income is listed first in the second section of Table V._ That is, more husbands ranked Income than any other area, as one of the first three most serious problems. Further, income has a considerable margin, in this section of the table over the next adjustment area. In the first section of the table, income is tied for first place with two other areas, in-law relationships and training and discip- lining children. Among those husbands who have children, the areu.of train- and disciplining children is reported second.most frequently as first second or third problem. In the first section, no other area. had a larger proportion ranking it problem number one in serious— ness. In the second list, the area of training children is ranked second. But here, it is closely followed by the third.most fre- quent area, in-law relationships. The positions of the other areas are not so clearly dis- tinguished. Although in—law relationships is tied for first place in the first list, it is third in the second list. According to the figures, social activities and recreation comes next in both lists, with nine percent of the husbands in the sample reporting that this was their most serious trouble area. In these lists, sex relations is next, choice of mutual friends sixth, and religion, indubitably 13313 e .. 170.. There is not as conclusive a ranking of seriousness of areas among the wives. Income has the largest proportions who think it the most serious area, but training the children is ranked as serious by about as many, and in-law relationships closely follows. Social activities and recreation is fourth and sex relations is fifth in both lists for the wives. This area was found to rank fifth in frequency of complaint for husbands, also. Religion and choice of friends are consistently ranked sixth and seventh, re- sPectively, in all three lists for wives. Among husbands, choice of friends was sixth and religion was seventh.* Evan though some areas were rated as a serious problem by considerably more of the sample than were other areas, every area was selected by some people as a major difficulty. For ex? ample, although the area of religion is at the bottom of the list, thirteen percent of the husbands said that this area was trouble- some enough to be considered one of their top three problems. And five percent of them even rated it as their number one difficulty. Thus, no area can be considered unimportant to this study of mari- tal adjustment. However, the fact that each area is listed by some as the major source of trouble, does not reveal whether all areas are actually related to marital happiness. These relation- ships will also be described. * In LandiS' study of the parents of college students, the areas in which the informants found the most difficulty in achieving an adjustment were sex and income, followed by social activities and recreation, in-laws, religion, and.mutual friends. Landis, p 668. - 171 - TABLE V Proportions of wives and husbands who rank each of the seven areas as their most serious problem, and proportions who rank each area as one of their first three most serious problems. Section One Proportions ranking each area as a major problem: Proportions ranking each area as most serious problem: (Husbands) Children In-laws Income Social Activities Sex Religion Friends Proportions ranking each area as problem 1,2, or 3 in seriousness. (Husbands) Income Children In-laws Social Activities Sex Friends Religion 9% 14 14 14 % :59 :52 31 so 22 19 13 9 9 5 5 Section Two (Five 8 ) In-laws Income Children Social Activities Sex Religion Friends (Wives) Children Income Inelaws Social.Activities Sex Religion Friends % 16 14 12 7.5 % 35 33 33 28 18 16 13 CHAPTER II SEVEN AREAS OF MARITAL ADJUSTMENT The areas of marital relationship being tested in this study are sex, spending the income, training the children, in-laws, social activities and recreation, choice of freinds, and religion. The relationships found between these areas and.marita1 happiness indicate only that adjustment in some areas tends, quite regularly, to accompany overall marital satisfaction. Individuals who would say they had a bad adjustment in any area would be likely to say they were generally unhappy. Although the association of poor adjustment in in-law relations, (or any other area), and unhappiness may appear close, it is possible that both reflect a dissatisfaction in some other area, perhaps even an area that is not being tested. In-law maladjustment might be only incidental to unhappiness, with the individual's dissatisfaction centering in another area. Annoyance at the spouse over in-laws develops as dissatisfaction becomes generalized to other areas of relation- ship that were originally not disrupted. But since the study does not aim to find causes, it is vital to understand which types of relationship are most often disrupted, and in which areas is disruption.most regularly accompanied by overall unhappiness. The fact that all seven areas are found to be quite closely associated with happiness probably means that there is overlapping of dissatisfaction into more than one area. - 173 - One statistical technique to be described is a set of coefficients of correlation between reported.marital happiness and adjustment in each area, for both husbands and wives» As each of the seven areas are taken up, reference will be made to Table VI which lists these correlations between each area and happiness. TABLE VI Coefficients of correlation between reported marital happiness and adjustment in each of the areas of marital relationship, by wives and by husbands. Husbands Wives r .2311 1'. .911 Sex relations +£Ess 539) **.362 540) Socialontivities & Recreation -+.386 (539) -+.314. (54o) Choice of friends +.283: (539) -+.253 (54o) In-law relationships +.267 (539) +.240‘ (540) Spending the income +.251 (539) -+.209 (540) Religion +.243 (539) -+.198 (54o) - 174 - TABLE VII Table VII will also be used in describing each area. Here are found the number of times an imperfect adjustment was reported in each area and the differences between husbands and wives in the areas most often reported as troublesome. Columns one and two indicate the number of people who described their adjustment as anything less than "excellent“, and columns three and four reveal the number of adjustments of "fair" or lower. The number of imperfect adjustments in each of the seven areas, (of less than "excellent" and of "fair" or worse adjustment), by wives and by husbands. All Complaints Serious Complaints Area lives Husbands “fives gHusbands In-law relations 246 189 69 52 Religion. 241 207 66 62 Sex relations 222. 232 48 68 Social activities 218 269 24 43 And recreation. Choice of friends 194 252 21 29 Spending income 132 90 8 10 Training children 75 7O 7 7 a Total: 1328 1309 243 271 - 175 - In the three areas of choice of friends, social ac- tivities and recreation, and sex relations, more husbands than wives reported imperfect adjustments. More wives than husbands complained about the other four areas. Altogether, nineteen more complaints were reported by wives than husbands. That is, with the opportunity to make 3808 complaints ,, the 544 husbands actually complained 1309 times and the wives l328 times. However, a.more significant figure is that 28 more complaints were registered by husbands in which the adjustment was con- sidered only "fair" or less. This was in spite of the fact. that the wives made more complaints of all degrees of serious? ness combined. In the areas in which wives led for number of complaints of all types, they did not also lead decisively for number of serious complaints, except in the areas of in-law relationships and religion, where more wives than husbands made complaints of less than "excellent" and also of "fair" or worse. In the three areas in which husbands more often reported adjustments of less than "excellent,“ they also had more reports of serious maladjustments. Sex relations When a husband complained of difficulties with his spouse in sex relations, he most often described the trouble as being due to her coldness: "She is not as passionate as I am," "She doesn't want to have intercourse as often as 1 dog" "She is indifferent;" - 176 - or, occasionally, "She's frigid," or "She can't stand it,"(intercourse). Fiftybeight of the husbands who stated their complaint in this area made a statement of this type. Only 12 wives made this type of complaint. Another criticism also made more frequently by husbands than wives, and related to sexual inadequacy, was that the spouse was shy, modest, inhibited, afraid of or disgusted by sex. This was voiced by 31 men and 21 women. But when the wife made this complaint, she most often meant that she and her husband could not reach a frank understanding or that her husband was reluctant to talk about the subject, rather than that his actions in sex play or intercourse were in any way inhibited. The wives more frequently complained that their husbands were too passionate; "He's nasty if he's refused;" "He wants to have intercourse more often than I do;" "He forces himself upon me;" "I can't understand the need fer such relations." Usually, the complaint was a regret that the spouse was more eager than she, though apparently she was interested to some extent or at some times. But it is notable that even though.more wives than husbands made this complaint, only 30 women said their husbands desired too much sexual activity, while it was 58 husbands who said their wives were too cold sexually. In other words, 28 wives probably were not aware that their husbands desired.more sex activity than they. Another question brings out the some facts. When asked, "Is your spouse about as responsive as you would wish?" 107 husbands - 177 - said their wives were not responsive enough and only 15 wives made this complaint. But 56 wives said their husbands were too responsive, while only 6 husbands reported this. If husbands and wives were aware of the dissatisfactions of their mates or realized their own short comings in satisfying their mates, then, the same number of wives would probably report that their husbands were too passionate as husbands reported that their wives were not passionate enough. Bat only one half as many wives thought their husbands too passionate, as husbands thought their wives were not passionate enough. Both Davisl. and Hamiltonz. found that the husband's satisfaction with his marital situation as a whole was not so dependent upon his wife's sexual adequacy or his own as was the wife's satisfaction with her marriage. Almost all women who complained of sexually inadequ ta husbands were dissatisfied 'with their entire marriage.lntme college.samp1e, only 12 women reported that their spouses were under-sexed. Two of these said they were Very Happy, six reported themselves as Happy, and four as Average or Unhappy. This small group of women does not cast much light upon the problem.of the relative happiness of women who are more passionate than their husbands. But if the Davis and Hamilton findings can be taken to apply to this sample, then the fact that the overly passionate women in the present sample con- stitute only a handful, may, in part, account for the large proportion of satisfied women in the group. 1. DQVis P 740 2. Hamilton, p 537. - 178 - A.complaint made by wives only, was that their husbands were "too fast" in reaching an orgasm: "He does not take care to arouse me," "Not giving me what I want in pro-intercourse love making." Fifteen wives made statements such as these. A.small number of husbands reported that their wives were too slow; Only ll husbands and 11 wives specified that their difficulty was a physical maladjustment, such as poor health, an injury, or a difference in the size of their sex organs. It can be seen from.Table VII, that the third largest number of complaints of imperfect adjustment by both husbands and ‘wives was in the area of sex relations, two hundred thirtyhtwo husbands and two hundred and twentybtwo wives stated that their sex adjustment was less than "excellent? (More hquands com- ‘plained of social activities and recreation and choice of friends than complained of sex. And more wives reported difficulty in in-law relations and religion.) But more husbands said they had rather serious maladjustments in sex than ih any other area, The 68 husbands who make this statement may be compared to only 48 wives who had adjustments of "fair" or poorer in sex relations. Poor adjustments were more frequently reported in areas other than sex by the wives. Table VIII shows that 85 percent of the husbands and 87 percent of the wives with "excellent" sex adjustments had Very Happy marriages. Further, only 57 percent of the husbands, compared with 69 percent of the wives with "good" adjustments in sex relations, were able to report Very Happy marriages. - 179 - Twenty-nine percent of the husbands and twenty-three percent of the wives with a "fair," "poor," or "very poor" sex adjustment, had an Average or Unhappy marriage, while only two percent of both the husbands and wives with an "excellent" sex adjustment had Average or Unhappy'marriages. In Table IX, it is seen that Very Happy husbands and Very Happy wives ranked sex relations about the same. Of the husbands, 15.5 percent, and of the wives, 14 percent who were Very Happy, rated sex as their first, second, or third most troublesome problem, About fifteen percent of the husbands and 15 percent of the wives rated this area 4, 5, or 6, and 69 percent of the husbands and 71 percent of the wives ranked it 7, 8, or last. But 38 percent of the Happy husbands and 30 percent of the wives who were only Happy (instead of Very Happy), ranked sex as one of their first three problems. That is, more of the husbands who were only Happy said sex relations was one of their most serious problems. And 3333: of these husbands than wives reported sex to be one of their least important problems. Likewise, the 37 Average or Unhappy husbands were more apt to rate sex as one of their most troublesome areas than were the 24 Average Happy wives. (There were not enough Average husbands or wives from which to draw separate conclusions, but they supported the figures found for the Happy husbands and wives: that the ranking of sex as a serious problem is more closely associated with general marital unhappiness in husbands than in wives). - 180 - Table X signifies that 40 percent, or only 19 of the wives with a "fair" or "poor" sex adjustment had "never considered" separating from their spouse, while 52 percent or 35 of the husbands with this unsatisfactory sex adjustment had "never considered" divorce. The wives with sex maladjustment were more apt to say that they had "not seriously" considered.53paxwing (33 percent), than were the husbands (20 percent.) These percentages were based on a gro p of 48 wives and 68 husbands. In contrast to this a few more wives than husbands, (5 percent more), who had an "excellent" sex adjustment did.not_say they had "never considered" separating. That is, among 5 percent more of the wives than of the husbands, "excellent" sex adjustment was not accompanied by never considering divorce. Only 14 percent of the wives in Table XI who never considered separating from their husbands, rated sex as one of their first three most serious problems, while 19 percent of the husbands who never considered divorce rated it one of the first three. And 71 percent of the wives, compared to 65 percent of the husbands who never thought of separating, rated sex as seventh, eighth, or last, in order of consequence. However, 29 percent of the wives, and 34 percent of the husbands who could not bring their report that they had "never considered" separating but who said "not seriously," indicated that sex was one of the first three problems. Further, of the 37 wives and 59 husbands who had "somewhat seriously" or "seriously" considered separating, fortnr percent of wives, and 49 percent of husbands - 181 - rated sex as first, second, or third. But practically all of the wives in this group who did not rate sex as problem 1, 2, or 3, rated it as fourth, fifth, or sixth. The same portion of wives as husbands rated this area among their first six problems even though.more husbands than wives rated it among the first three. But there are too few cases of husbands or wives who have considered separating to permit generalizations of any kind to be made. In Table XII, there is seen to be a relationship between how the individual rated his sex adjustment and whether or not he felt he had a serious marital problem. Especially among the husbands, more of those with "fair, poor," or "very poor" sex " "quite," or "moderately adjustments said they had an "extremely, serious" marriage difficulty, than of those who did not report an imperfect adjustment in sex relations. Seventeen percent of the wives and 15 percent of the husbands with "excellent" adjustments in sex, compared to 44 percent of the wives and 49 percent of the husbands with "fair," "poor," or "very poor" sex adjustments, had a very serious marital problem. It cannot be concluded from Table X11 that sex problems were more urgent to men than to women. For in Table XIII it is seen that among those wives who reported that they had an "extremely," "quite," or"moderately" serious problem, 41 percent ranked sex relations as the first, second or third problem. That is, sex maladjustments were characteristic of 26 percent more - 182 - of the women with serious problems than of those with trivial problems. But among the husbands, only 9 percent more of those with serious problems than those with "trivial" ones, ranked sexual relations as one of their first three problem areas. The coefficient of correlation between adjustment in the sex area and happiness brings out that of all the areas, the highest relationship exists between adjustment in sex relations and happiness. (Table VI). Tables similar to numbers VIII through XIII, just discussed, have been developed for each area, and it will be seen when the other areas of adjustment have been taken up, that no area is more closely associated with total marital adjustment, than is the area of sex relations. But in the other test of the relationship of the seven areas to marital success, (the ranking of the areas in order of troublesomeness,Table V), it was found four other areas were more frequently cited by both husbands and wives as the source of their major marital difficulty. That is, sex relations ranked fifth among the areas for the number of people rating it their topmost problem, or their number 1, 2, or 3 problem. 'This may be partly the result of a social conditioning against amnitting unsuccessful relations in sex. If these people felt more shame about failing to adjust in this basic marriage relationship, than in the other areas, they would find it more difficult to admit to themselves by writing on a questionnaire that they had.more trouble in sex relations than they did in the other areas being tested. Further, if the relationship that the couple has in sex acts sets an emotional tone for the whole marriage, then - 183 - an unfavorable atmosphere may hang over all their relationships. But they may not be able to trace back and locate in sex the main source of their maladjustment with one another. TABEE VIII Marital happiness according to the adjustment of the couple in sex relations, as reported by'wives and by husbands. Sex adjustment Excellent Good ‘ Fair'or‘Pbor (No response) Sex adjustment Excellent Good Fair or Pbor, or very poor. As reported by'wives: How'Happy Vb Ha Ha ‘a752;"£§§% erflEZ:# 87 (27s) 11 (34) 69 (122) 26 (46) 39 (19) 37 (18) As reported by'husbands: HOW'EEEEZ Vb Ba 85 (264) 13 (4o) 57 (95) 36 (60) 37 (25) 34 (23) Amerage 3i 2 (5) (317; 5 (8) (176 23 (11) (48) S32 4 Amerage or Unha 5 (6) E3103 7 (11) 166 29 (20) (68) - 18%.- TABLE IX; Martial happiness according to the ranking of sex.relations in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How happy the marriage is How sex relations is ranked in seriousness as a problem You 33pr Happy Average 3 Problem 3%: % a % {I % # 1, 2, or 3 14 (59) so (so) 42 (10) 4, 5, or 6 15 (63) 18 (18) 21 (5) 7, 8, or last 71 (2972 521 (512 37 (92 (1) (No response) N ; (419) (99) (24) As reported by husbands: How happy the marriage is EoW'sex.relations is ranked in seriousness as Average or approblem. (Kory Happy Happy Unhappy Problem #: z i5 77: i} % 1, 2, or 5 15.5 (60) 58 (47) 54 (20) 4, 5, or 6 15.5 (60) 19 (24) 8 (3) 7, 8, or last 69 S26 2 43 $532 38 (14! N : (384) (124) (37) ~ 185 - TABUEIX The seriousness, with which separation has been considered, according to the adjustment of the couple in sex.relations, as reported by wives and by husbands. Sex; adjustment Excellent Good Fair, or poor 40 (No response) Sax adjustment Excellent Good Fair, poor, or very Poor As reported by wives: Never Not Considered Seriousl fl’f—‘i a; (269) 12 (88) 72 (127) 20 (35) (19) 33 (16) How seriously considered separating, Somewhat seriously or seriously' 2[ a it 3 (10) (317) 8 (14) (176) 27 (13) (48) 3. 544 As-reported by husbands: Never Net Considered Seriousl flfl 90 (280 7 (21) 72 (119 22 (86) 62 (55 20 (14) How seriously_considered separating Somewhat seriously or seriously EL 7% (9§ (810; 6 (11) 166 28 (19) (68) 544. - 186 - TABLE XI The seriousness with which separation has been considered, according to the ranking of sex relations in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. Ebw sex relations is ranked in seriousness as a problem ¥§3blem‘¥w 1,2, or 3 4,5, or 6 7,8, or last (no response) How sex relations is ranked As reported by wives: How seriously she has considered separating from her spouse. Never con- sidered it I0 x 14 (59) 15 (62) 71 (296) N 8(417) As reported by husbands: How seriously he has considered separating from his spouse. Never con- in seriousness as a problem sidered it $¥bblem #1 %’ EF‘ 1,2, or 3 19 (83) 4,5, or 6 16 (70) 7,8, or last 65 (281) (No response) N I (464) th ser- Somewhat seriously iousl}.r .. or seriously E 29 (26) 4o (15) 17 (15) 25 (9) 54 (48) 35 (13) ( ) l (89) (37) Not ser- Somewhat seriously iousl or seriously E is f c f 34 (2h) 49 (19) 15 (ll) 15 (6) 51 (36) 36 €53) "" (1) (71) (39) -187- TABLE XII The seriousness of the most trouble- some problem, according to the adjust- ment of the couple in sex relations, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives : How serious the most serious problem is Extrémely , quite , Not worth 50 (97) (517) 17 (50) (176) Sex or moderately Not very adjustment serious serious Trivial mentioning E % F e h c ' ’ 0 Excellent 17 (55) 24 (76) 29 (91) Good 25 (41) 50 (55) so (52) Fair or Poor 44 (21) 44 (21) 6 (5) (No response) As reported by husbands: 6% (3) ((48 (a; 544 How serious the most serious_problem is Extreme 1y , quite , $91: or moderately Not vary 1‘ adjustment serious serious Trivial 75 E? o . ' Excellent 15 (48) 25 (76) 34(106) Good 22 (56) 45 (75) 22( 37) Fair, Poor, 49 (33) 32'. (22) 13( 97) or Very Poor Not worth mentioning E %T‘ 4? 26 (80) (510) 11 (18) (166) ~188- TABLE XI II The seriousness of the most troublesome problem, accor- ding to the ranking of sex relations in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives; How serious the most serious problem is How sex relations is ranked in Extremely, quite, seriousness as or moderately ‘ a problem. serious Problem #1 % (S? 1, 2, or 5 41 (49) 4, 5, or 6 16 (18) 7, 8, or last 43 ‘50) N: (117) As reported by husbands: How serious the most serious problem is How sex relations is ranked in seriousness as Extremely, quite, or moderately a. problem serious Eroblemfiz % it 1, 2, or 5 28 (32) 4, 5, or 6 23 (36) 7, 8, or last 49 .Léll (No response) N 3(115) 5551441 59 146.2 Not very Not worth serioul Trivial mention % % :# 3% 5= 51 (54) 15 (25) o (o; 18 (51) 25 (58) o- 51 588) 60 91 t 100 S102)- (173) (152) (102) not very Not worth serious Trivial mention fl, % is 9% 4% % If 26 (59) 19 (as) 0 (0) 18.5 (28 22 2. o o 100 $150) (151) (146) (130)(1) * Every case in which the problem was reported as not worth even mentioning, the number one problem was rated as "9” or last. No problems of this deg rgree of triviality were Gwen a higher rankby any informant. - 189 - Spending the family income When the informants answered the question about how well they agreed with their spouse over spending the family income, their replies did not necessarily reflect their fin- ancial status. If low income invariably impaired the.adjust- ment of the couple on money matters, then the two factors, total income and adjustment in Spending the income, would be closely associated. It may be seen that, to a limited degree, the reverse is true. TABLE XIV o Adjustment of wives and of husbands in the area of spending the family income, according to total monthly income of the family. greement over spending income # ‘Wives: Agree almost Agree most Agree half, Total income: all the time of time seldom, or never 'E % 1F .. . Above median 74 (201) 25 (65) 5 (8) (272) Below median 77.7 (211) 22 (60) .5 (1) (272 Husbands: Above median 76.5 (208) 21.5 (58) 2 (6) (272) Below median 79 (215) 19.5 (55) 1.5 (4) (272 544 17* Median is $190 monthly - 190 - High income and absence of worry about finances may keep happy relations in the area of spending the family income in those families with above median incomes. And the increased effort at cooperation that is necessary in the budgeting of a small income may be the factor working to keep harmony in this area among those couples with below median incomes. But another alternative to this possibility is that the actual amount of money available to the family may be scarcely related to the spending adjustment in either direction. There may have been a few men and women in the sample with low incomes who were actually aided in their adjustment by being almost forced to cooperate over the spending of money. Among the majority, the quantity of money in the hands of the couple may have been of only minor importance in their adjustment. In Chapter 5, however, it was shown that total income is related to overall marital adjustment among some groupings of the sample. Terman éireports the rather low positive correlation of .015 for husbands and .020 for wives, between total income and marital happiness. The one exception to this was in the wives of professional men. He believes the correlation of .26 occurs in this group because when the incomes of professional men are anall, their wives find it difficult to maintain the high standard of living expected of their social class. Numerous Michigan State College wives, complained in the questionnaire that the College standard of living is too high for the married veteran to maintain. in Terman, pp 169-170. - 191 - The husbands are not found making statements like this. Wbodhouse * found that the managing of the money correlated with marital happiness rather than the amount of money available. Of what, then, were the men and women complaining when they reported that they had imperfect adjustments with their spouses in spending the family income? Seventy-one of the 121 maladjusted husbands and 69 of the 132 wives who disagreed with their spouses in this area, described the type of disturbances they had over money matters. A complaint more commbn to husbands than to wives was that the spouse was extravagant, careless, free, or loose with money, wasteful, or ignorant about budgeting the monthly sum so that all needs could be taken care of. Fiftybeight husbands made complaints of this type compared to only 38 wives. However, this was also the most frequent complaint of wives, even though fewer wives than husbands made it. The next most frequent criticism is voiced by 24 wives and only 8 husbands. Remarks like the following were made: "He pinches too much;" "too economicalg" "He won't buy," “Saves too much on comfort items;"‘“Disapproves of Spending for clothes, decorating trailer, etc." The third group of complaints centered around the self- ishness of one spouse in regard to money. Wives complained that their husbands were dictatorial, that they, (the wives),;were not allowed to handle the meney, that they were not given enough money, or *fifibodhouse,#51 G., "A Study of 250 successful Families,"r Social Forces, 1950, Vbl. 8, pp 511-532. - 192 - that the husband bought without consulting. One wife said: "He pays for having his dirty work done while I have to do my own." Seven wives made criticisms like these. Five husbands complained, on the other'nhan‘d, of the wives reminding them of who earned the money. (She earned it). Another criticism by husbands was that the wife spent the family money selfishly. These complaints, also, show that it is the husband who is dictatorial with the money, and never the wife. While there were these wives who resented their husband's being the one to manage the money, the role was not reversed with the wife being dictatorial and the husband complaining. It can be seen from.Table V that the same proportion of husbands and of wives ( 14 percent ) listed spending the family income as their number one source of trouble in the home. Two other areas were listed this frequently by husbands (children and in-laws), but none was more frequently reported. In-laws was reported by 16 percent of the wives to be their number one problem. More husbands, (39 Percent), stated that income was one of their first three trouble spots than any other area. more wives reported training the children as one of their first three areas than reported income. Thirty-three percent of those who ranked income, said it was first, second or third in seriousness. Thus spending the family income receives higher rankings than any other area as the most serious problem, and it is ranked high more frequently by husbands than by wives. .. 193-... But an examination of Table VII reveals that fewer complaints of disagreement were registered in this area than in any other area. Ninety husbands and 132 wives said their adjust- ment in this area was less than "we agree all the time." Thus, in this question, more wives than husbands took occasion to complain about their arrangement over spending the income. But relatively few men 23 women complained here, considering the fact that this area was ranked higher as a problem than any other area. And only 10 husbands and 8 wives registered a complaint in this area as serious as "we agree half the time." Four percent of the husbands who agree "almost all of the time" in this area have only Average happiness, while 16 percent who agree anly "most of the time" rate their happiness _as Average. There is less divergence for the wives between those who agree "almost all the time,"(2 percent)anithose who agree "most of the time;'(9 percent) and are'Average Happy. . And of those who agree "most of the time , there are 68 percent of the wives and 54 percent of the husbands who are Very Happy. Thus, there is apparently a fairly close relationship between reported happiness and adjustment in the area of spending the family income, especially among husbands. As may be seen in Table XVI, there is also some relation- ship between the two factors of happiness and the ranking of income as a problem. Only a third of the Very Happy husbands and wives - 194 - rated income as one of their first three problem areas, while one half of them rated it one of their last three problems. more of the Very Happy wives than husbands rated income as one of the least troublesome areas. Also, more of the Happy wives than husbands ranked income low. Fortybthree percent of the wives but 33 percent of the husbands rated income as 7, 8, or last problem. Thus, income trouble is not the source of irritation to as many wives as husbands who are only Happy. When a husband is not Very Happy he is more apt to have spending disagreements with nis spouse, for 44 percent of the husbands who are only Happy, rated income as one of their top three problems, compared to only 35 percent of the wives. Whether or not divorce has been considered appears to be related to the adjustment of the individual to his or her spouse in the spending of the family income. In Table XVII, 82 percent of the wives and 84 percent of the husbands who have almost complete agreement over spending, say they have "never considered" separating from their spouses, while only 62 percent of the wives and 68 percent of the husbands who agree just "most" of the time, have never contemplated divorce. Only four percent of both husbands and wives who have excellent income adjustment say that divorce has "somewhat seriously" or "seriously" been considered, compared to 12 percent of the wives and 17 percent of the husbands who agree only "most" of the time. - 195 - Ibth husbands and wives who have not considered separation are more apt to'rate income as an area in which they have but little trouble.(Table XVIII). About half of those who never thought of divorce say that this area is one of their last three problems for causing difficulty, but only a third who say that separation has been considered "not seriously" report that income ranks 7th, 8th, or last. Seven percent 22£2_wives than husbands who said they had never thought of separation said that income was one of their least serious problem areas. And 7 percent £2335. wives than husbands who had not considered separation ranked income.as one of their most serious problems. As seen in Table XIX, those men and women with imperfect income adjustments are more apt to have serious marital problems, (whether their most serious problem be income or in some other area). Twelve percent fewer of the husbands and wives who agreed "almost all the time" over spending the income, than of those who agreed only "most of the time," had very serious problems in their marriage. Table XX does not indicate any greater tendency for the men and women with serious marital problems to rank income as one of their top problems than there is for those who do not have any serious marital difficulties. Forty-two percent of the wives with very serious problems reported that income ranked as one of their first three problems. But so did 46 percent of those with "not very serious" and 41 percent with "trivial" problems ranked this - 196 - area as problem 1, 2, or 3.For some reason, these who ranked income as one of their major problems were not necessarily very troubled by their income disagreements. The correlation of'F.251 for husbands and +3209 for wives between adjustment in spending the income and marital happiness, (TableVI), is lower than the r for four other areas. The relationship with happiness is closer for the areas of sex relations, social activities and recreation, choice of friends, and in-laws, than it is for Spending the income. A comparison of Tables XV through XX with the Tables presented with the discussion of each of the other areas, reveals that at least three areas are more closely associated with.marital satisfaction, than is spending the family income. Happiness, thoughts of divorce, and the presence or absence of a serious problem are in a more dependent relationship with the adjustment and the reported ranking of the areas of sex, in-laws, and social activities and recreation, than with the area of spending the income. The fact, then, that more men and women were found to list spending the money as their number one problem or as one of their top three or four problems, may indicate that in this area, open disagree- ments can be located by almOSt everyone, but that the trouble is not necessarily serious. The questionnaire, itself, may have encouraged contented individuals to appear cooperative by listing some area as a source of discord. Disagreements over money may appear in the most harmonious of marriages; so this area was checked as a last resort of complaint by happy people. -197- TABLEXV Marital happiness according to the agree-— ment of the couple over spending the family income, reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives : How Hapm Agreement on spending the family income Ve ha Avera e N o o f as f - Agree almost all time 82 (333) 16 (69) a (10) (412) Agree most of the time 68 ( 82) 23 (29) 9 '(11) (122) Agree half of time or 44 ( 4) 22 ( 2) 33 ( s) ( 9) seldom. (No response) 1 544 As reported by husbands : How Happy Agreement on spending the fami 1}: income Ave rage or Ve ha % ii Agree almost all time 76 Agree most of the time 54 (' 60) Agree half of time or 20 ( 2) seldom. (322) Happy# Unhapp; g 20 (84) 4 (17) (423) so (33) 16 (18) (111) 60 ( 6) so ( 2) 10 544, -198- TABLE XVI Marital happiness according to the ranking of the area of spending the family income in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands . As reported by wives: How happy the marriage is How spending the family income is ranked in seriousness as a problem Very Happy Happy Aveggge _11 Problem 5': % # % % *fi 1, 2. or 3 32 (133) 35 (35) 41 (10) 4, 5, or 6 15 (64) 22 (22) 38 (9) 7, 8, or last 53 (221) 43 (42) 21 (5) (No response) (1) N = (418) (99). (24) As reported by husbands: How happy the marriage is How spending the family income is ranked in seriousness Average or as a problem Very Happy Happy Unhappy Problem #2 3.7» it % 75 1, 2, or 3 36 (137) 44 (54) 57 (21) 4, 5, or 6 15 (57). 23 (29) 21.5 (8) 7, s, or last 49 (190) 33 (41) 21.5 (8) N : (384) (124) (37) -l99 - TABEE‘XYII ‘The seriousness with which separation has been considered, according to the agreement of the couple in spending the family income, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How seriously considered separating Agreement in spending family Never Not Somewhat Seriously income Considered Seriously or Seriously _INL Agree t % i“ % HE % ifl‘ Almost all the time 82 (338) 14 (56) 4 (18) (412) Most of time 62 (75) 26 (32) 12 (15) (122) Half of time or 44.5 (4) 11 (1) 44.5 (4) (9) seldom. (No response) 1. 544 As reported by husbands: How seriously considered separatipg Agreement in spending the Never Not Somewhat Seriously family income Considered Seriously or Seriously 3 Agree: % a? % rib % 27* Almost all the time 84 (355) 12 (52) 4 (16) (4 2)3 Most of the time 68 (75) 15 (17) 17 (19) (111) Half of the time 40 (4) 20 (2) 4o (4) — 200 - TABLE XVIII The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the ranking of the area of spending the family income in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How seriously considered separating How spending the family income is Never con- Not ser- Somewhat seriously ranked as a problem sidered it iously or seriously .11 Problem 3*: 7° I o f 75 H: 1, 2, or 3 so (124) 40 (36) 48 18) 4,5, or 6 15 (64) 25 (22) 27 (10) 7, 8, or last 55 (229) 35 $31) 25 (9) (Nb response) (1) N = (417) (89) (37) As reported by husbands: How seriously considered separating How spending the family income is Never con- Not ser- Somewhat seriously ranked as a. problem sidered it iously or seriously Problem.§v % #= % #= % :fi 1, 2, or 3 37 (159) 46.5 (33) 51 (20) 4, 5, or 6 15 (65) 24 (17) 28 (11) 7, 8, or last 48 (210) 29.5 (21) 21 g 2 8 N z (434) (71) (39) - 201 — TABLE XIX The seriousness of the most troublesome problem according to the agreement of the couple in spending the family income, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How serious the most serious problem is: Agreement on spending_income Almost all time Mbst of the time Half the time (No response) Extremely, quite, or moderately Not very serious serious ‘3? at . 18 (74) 27 (110) so (36) 31 (38) 56 (5) 33 (3) As reported by husbands: Not worth Trivial mentionipg _li -%7' d; %7 S; How serious the most serious problem.is: Agreement on spending_income Extremely, quite, or moderately Not very Almost all time most of the time Half the time serious serious 2 a T7 18 (77) 30 (126) .30 (33) 41 (45. 7o (7) 20 (2) 27 (113) 28 (115) (412) 26 (32) 13 (16) (122) 11 (1) o (o) (9) 7‘9): 544 Not worth Trivial mentionin N 30 (126) 22 (94) (423) 22 (25) 7 (8) (111) 10 (1) o (o) (10) 1543) -202- TABLE XI The seriousness of the most troublesome problem according to the ranking of the area of spending the family income in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: H w serious problem.§i is: How'spending Extremely, the family income quite, is ranked as a problem seriousy Problem 1%: % 13% 1, 2, or 3 w 42 (48) 4, 5, or 6 26 (30) 7, 8, or last 32 $37) (No response) N : (115) As reported by husbands: How serious problem.f=l is: wa'spending Extremely, the family quite, income is ranked or moderately Not very as approblem. serious serious Problem.§n: % §= fl; §= 1, 2, or 3 50 58 49 86) 4, 5, or 6 25 30 18 (31) 7, 8, or last 25 (29) 33 (56) N = (117) (173) or moderately Not very serious % 1# 46 (7o) 23 (35) use (161) 22:129.}. Not worth Trivial mention _1_\'_ % =¥= % :# 41 (60) o (o) 19 (27) o (o) 40 1533100 (130) ( ) 1 (146) (130) Not worth mention % i? % a? 45 (69) o (0) 21 (32) o (0) 54 $51) 100 S102) (152) (102) - 203 - Training and disciplining the child When asked how they were irritated by their spouses in the area of training and disciplining the children, 25 husbands and 31 wives specified the type of annoyance that they experienced. Seventeen of these husbands but only three of the wives said that their mate spoiled and pampered the child and that the spouse was too lenient with the child. 0n the other hand, 21 of the hives and only five of the husbands complained that their spouse scolded the child harshly, or nagged or became irritated with the child. Further, seven wives and only three husbands said that their spouse: "Doesn't share responsi- bility of disciplining the child;" "Pays little attention to child: ignores himg" "Doesn't spend as much time with child as .should," (that is, doesn't play with. the child.) It was the wives who complained of harshness and the husbands who disliked softness. The roles of the tender and loving mother and the stern and distant father were being fulfilled. But it was the fulfilling of these traditional roles that was being resented. The mother also regretted that the husband was not as interested in her child as she would like, or that he did not help her to care for or discipline the child. These, also, reflect the modern ideals of sharing equally in the raising of a child: that the husband should not only discipline, but should also love, play with, and care for the physical needs of the child; and the mother should not only love, soothe, show tenderness to, feed and keep clean the child, but she should also Ill 14f £111. .lltl. - 204 - train and discipline him. The revolt of these men and women is against their spouses not living up to the modern middle class standards of parenthood: that there is a generalized role of parenthood which both mother and father should share equally. Thirty-two percent of all the couples have children. All 174 of these wives rate their adjustment in the area of training and disciplining the children. But only 166 of the husbands feel that their children are old enough for a judgement to be made of their adjustment in this area. Seventy-five ‘wives and 70 husbands report imperfect adjustments with their spouses over training and disciplining the children, as shown in TableVIT. The only other area in which proportionately more women in the sample reported imperfect adjustments was in the area of religion. Proportionately more of the 544 men in the sample said they had imperfect adjustments in sex relations, social activities and recreation, and choice of friends, than of the 166 men with children repurted imperfect adjustments in training the children. The number of both husbands and of wives reporting serious complaints, (that is, that their agreement was "half ' or "never"), was proportionately smaller the time," "seldom,' in the area of spending the family income. And there were relatively fewer complaints by wives about the choice of friends. - 205 - Fourteen percent of the fathers and 12 percent of the mothers reported that the area of training and disciplining the children was their most serious problem area. (TableV). The same proportion of all 544 husbands said that their most serious problem was in the areas of in-law relationships and of the spending of the family income. These three areas are tied for first place for the proportion of husbands reporting them as their top trouble spot. More wives said that the most serious problem was in in-law relationship and more also reported spending the family income as their most troublesome area, than reported that of training and discipliiing the children. But more wives, (35 percent), said this area was one of their top 22:22 problem areas than said this about any other area. This area was second among the husbands for the number reporting the area as problem 1, 2, or 3. Thirty-two percent of the men listed this area as one of the top three problem areas. Tables XXI through XVI show the relationship between adjustment in training the children and the three basic indices of marital satisfaction, and also the relationship between how train- ing the children was ranked in seriousness as a problem and the three basic satisfaction questions. These tables are comparable to those devised for the other 6 areas. A.positive relationship is seen to exist between how happy the marriage was reported to be and the degree of adjustment in training and disciplining \ the children. This is shown in Table XXI. Sixteen percent more - 206 - of the wives who were Very Happy said they agreed "almost all the time" than said they agreed only "most of the time" in training the children. The Very Happy husbands agreed "almost all the time," with 17 percent greater frequency than they agreed "most of the time.“ But the husbands and wives who were only Happy, agreed "most of the time" or "half the time" or "seldom" more often than they agreed "almost all the time." Table XXII demonstrates the relationship between how' happy the marriage was reported to be, and how the area of training and disciplining the children was ranked in seriousness as a problem. Ten percent more of the wives and three percent more of the husbands who were Happy than of those who were Very Happy, ranked this area as one of their top three problems. And six percent more of the wives and 11 percent more of the husbands who were Very Happy than of those who were Happy, rated this area Vas one of their three least troublesome areas of adjustment, For husbands, the relationship between these two factors, the ranking of this area as a problem and happiness, is lower than any other area. But among the wives, only sex relations and social activities and recreation reveal a closer relationship between the ranking of the area as a problem and marital happiness. The relationship between how seriously the informant has considered separating from his or her spouse and the adjustment of the couple in training and disciplining the children, is considered in Table XXIII. Only 8 percent more of the wives and 6.5 percent more of the husbands who agreed in the area of training and dis- § ciplining the children " almost all the time" than of those who agreed "most of the time," had " never considered" separating. - 207 - Among the husbands, no other area shows so small a difference between those with perfect and those with imperfect adjustment in the number who have considered divorce. Among the wives, only :he area of religious adjustment Shows a lower relation- ship between adjustment in the area and thoughts of separation. There is also a slight relationship between how seriously separation had been considered and how the area of training and disciplining the children was ranked as a problem. (Table XXIV). Four percent more of the wives and nine percent more of the husbands who ranked the area of training and dis- ciplining the children as one of their top three problems, said they had "not seriously" considered separazing than said they had "never considered it." And 10 percent more of the wives and 17 percent more of the husbands who rate: this area as one of their least troublesome problems, reported that they had "never considered" separating than said they had "not seriously" con- sidered it. Only the area of religion reveals a lower relationship among both husbands and wives between the ranking of the area as a problem and the thoughts about divorce that had been entertained. The area of choice of mutual friends reveals about the same relation- ship as training and disciplining the children. It can be seen from.Table XXV that 12 percent more of the wives and 10 percent more of the husbands who agreed "almost all the time” with their spouses in training and disciplining the children, said they had "trivial" problems than reported “extremely, quite or moderately, serious oneSo And 15 percent more of the wives and seven percent - 208 - more of the husbands who agreed "most of the time" in this area, said they had "extremely, quite, or moderatley serious" problems than said they had "trivial"ones. In Table XXVI, just six percent more of the wives who reported "extremely, quite, or moderately serious" problems than of those with "trivial" problems, are found to rank the area of training and disciplining the children as one of their three most serious problems. And among the husbands, more of those without a serious problem than of those with a serious problem rated the area as problem 1, 2, or 3. But, 10 percent more of the wives and 8 percent more of the husbands with very serious problems than of those with "trivial" problems, rated training and disciplining the children as one of their three least serious problems. The relationship, then, between maladjustments over training the children and marital satisfaction is clear, but not as close as between sex and marital satisfaction. -209- TABLE m Marital happiness according to the adjustment of the couple in training and disciplining the children, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives : How Happy Adjustment in training and disciplining , the children VerLHappy Happy Average E Agree: % 6‘ % at 75 it Almost all the time 76 (65) 22 (19) 2 (2) (86) Heat of the time so (32) 30 (16) 10 (5) (53) Half of the time 29 (2) 29 (a) 43 (3) (7) or seldom. No children or so (320) 16 (63) 4 (14) (397) too young. (No response) (1; 544 7 As reported by husbande How Happy Adjustment in training and disciplining the children Very Happy Happy Average E Agree: 7?. i7: % ¥ % # Almost all time. 72 (68) 21 (20) 7 (7) (95) Most of the time 55 (26) 32 (15) 13 (s) (47) Half of the time 43 (3), 43 (3) 14 (l) (7) or seldom. ' No children or 73 (288) 21 (85) 6 (22) (395 too young 544 . -210 - TABLE XXII Marital happiness according to the ranking of training and disciplining the children in ser- iousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives with children: How happy the marriage is: H w training and disciplining the children is ranked in seriousness as agproblem: Very happy Problem is: % TE 1, 2, or 3 31 (39) 4, 5, or 6 17 (21) 7, 8, or last 52 £642 (124) As reported by husbands with children: 1am. % r 41 (16) 13 (5) 46 (18) (39) How happy the marriage is: How tr aining and disciplining the children is ranked in seriousness as a problem. VEEY happy Egguag Problem #2 7° 13‘ 7: 75", l, 2, or 3 3a (34) 35 (17) 4, 5, or 6 18 (19) 26 (13) 7, 8, or last 50 (52) 39 (19) (1055 (49) Average % 7% 60 (a) 10 (1) so in (10) Amer e % -r 39 (4) 31 (5) 39 (4) T137 - 211 - TABLE XXIII The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the adjustment of the couple in training and disciplining the child- ren, as reported by wives and by husbands with Children. As reported by wives : How seriously considered separating Agreement in training and disciplining Never Not Somewhat seriously children Considered Seriously or seriouslz E Agree: 75' % hm % # Almost all the time 73 (63) 22 (19; 5 (4) (86) Mbst of the time 61 (32) 28 (15 11 (6) (53) Half of the time (2) (2) (3) (7) or seldom No children or 81 (320) 13 (53) 6 (24) (397) children too young (No response) 1 544 As reported by husbands : How seriously considered separating Agreement in training and disciplining Never Not Somewhat seriously children Considered Seriously or seriouply _IL Agree: % ¥ % «2% % 1% Almost all the time 81 (77) 11 (10; 8 (8) (95; Mbst of the ties 74.5 (35) 13 (6 12.5 (6) (47 Half the time or (3) (2) (2) (7) seldom. No children or 81 (320) 13 (53) 6 (22) 395 544 children too young — 212 — TABLE XXIV The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the ranking of training and disciplining the children in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands With Children. As reported by wives with children: How seriously considered separating Bow training and disciplining the children is ranked in seriousness as Never con- Not ser- Somewhat seriously agroblem sidered it iouslz or seriously__ Problem #: 7v 1% 7* i} % 33E 1, 2, or 3 33 (4o) 37 (14) 50 (8) 4, 5, or 6 15 (18) 21 (8) 6 (l) 7, 8, or last 52 (6 2.2 42 16 44 S7) (120) (38) (16) As reported by husbands with children: How seriously considered separating How training and disciplining the children is ranked in seriousness as Never con- Not ser— Somewhat seriously a problem sidered it iously or seriously Problem 3: % 33" 73 #- 7» 3% 1, 2, or 3 31 (39) 4o (10) 31 (5) 4, 5, or 6 20 (25) 28 (7) 31 (5) 7, 8, or last 49 $612 32. (82 38 (62 (125) (25) (16) — 213 - TABLE XXV The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the adjustment of the couple in training and disciplining the children, as reported by wives and by husbands with children. As reported by wives: How serious the most serious problem is: Agreement on Extremely, training and quite, disciplining or moderately Not very Not worth the children serious serious Trivial mentioning N Agreet _ % $3 % f: 75 f“ % 3* Almost all the time 17 (15) 35 (3o) 29 (25) 19 (16)(86) host of the time 32 (17) 38 (20) 17 (9) 13 (7)(53) Half the time or 57 (4) 43 (3) o (o) c: (o) (7) seldom No children or 20 (79) 25 (98) 28(112) 27 (108)(397) children too young (No response) 'T-Ll} 544 As reported by husbands: HoW'serious the most serious problem.isx Agreement on Extremely, training and quite, disciplining or moderately Not very not worth the children serious serious Trivial mentioning _N Agree: ”/5 95* % 5“ % f % 3* Almost all the time 19 (18) 35 (33) 29 (28) 17 (16)(95) Mbst of the time 28 (13) 4o (19) 21 (lo) 11 (5)(47) Half the time or (5) (O) (l) (1) (7) seldom. No children or 20 (81) 31 (121) 29 (113) 20 (80) (395) children too young (No response) 544; - 214 - TABLE XXVI The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the ranking of training and disciplining the children in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and husbands with childrin. As reported by wives with children: How serious the most serious problem is How training and disciplining the Extremely, children is ranked quite, in seriousness as or moderately Not very Not worth a_problem serious serious. Trivial mentioning_ % 39 . r . i? 3* Problem iér 1,2,or3 45 (19) 42 (27) 39 (16) 4o (0) 4, 5, or 6 1.9 (8) 20 (13) 15 (6) 10 (o) 7, 8, or last 36 $15) 38 (24) 46 $19) 100 $27) (42) (54) (41) (27) As reported by husbands with children: How serious problem.§=l is flew training and disciplining the Extremely, children is ranked quite, in seriousness as or moderately Not very Not worth a problem serious serious Trivial mentioning ,. 7» 3‘ . if . ’ % 11: Problem #:1,2,or3 31 (13) 42. (25) 36 (16) o (o) 4., 5, or 6 33 (14) 24 (14 20 (9) o (o) 7, 8, or last 36 S15) 34 20 44 $20) 100 £20) (42) (59) (45) (20) CHAPTER III SEVEN AREAS or 19111311. ADJUm-EENT ( continued) In-laW'relationships The most frequent complaint by both husbands and wives in the area of in-law relationships was that their spouse irritated them by being too tied to parents. Thirty-six of the 91 complaints made by husbands with imperfect adjustments in this area, and 45 of the 109 complaints made by wives, specified this. The same proportion of all the complaints made by husbands and wives were of this type. They said, for instance, that their spouse "wants to visit hone too often;" "is tied to their apron strings;" "thinks too much of them and too little of me;" " "accepts their advise too "can't see any faults in them; readily;" "tells mother too much of personal affairs;" "spends too much time and does too many things for folks;" "sends money to mother;" "too much at their beck and call." The second most frequently voiced complaint was made by 26 husbands and 30 wives. This is 30 percent of the 91 complaints made by husbands and 30 percent of the 109 made 'by wives, which were of this kind. It includes all complaints concerning the Spouse acting in a rude or unfriendly manner to the complainant's family. "She makes my parents feel unwantedg" "Doesn't show appreciation for what they'fl done for us;" "Interferes in their arguments;" "Shows irritation with them." Some made the slightly different complaint that the spouse, rather than acting rude in front of iniaws, insulted then or criticized them to him, - 215 - That is, "She makes disparaging remarks about my family}" "makes a joke of them." Eight wives and two husbands complained that the spouse resented his being so close to his own parents. One wife said, ‘ another, "resents my "He doesn't want me to visit my mother;' enjoying myself with them," (my parents); A previous complaint made by many men and women was that their spouse was too tied to the apron strings of the spouse's family. The complaints just listed, on the other hand, were made by people who wished to be closer to their own parents than their spouses desired them to be, and they resented this blocking. Still another complaint was voiced by 14 husbands and 20 wives with imperfect adjustments in in-law relationships. This is almost the same proportion of all the husbands complaints as of the wives complaints that were of this type. One spouse acts in an irritating manner to the other in in-law relations ips. For instance, "He embarasses me in front of them;" Wife: "Doesn't show me affection when in-laws are present;" "Doesn't stick up for me enough when with them." A final type of complaint is one which is usually made by husbands (13) rather than wives (8). The husband complains that his wife is not hice to her own parents, that she argues with her mother, tries to boss them, interferes in their quarrels, doesn't visit them often enough, expects favors of them, or in manner is disrespectful to her parents. Thirteen husbands and - 216 - seven wives with perfect in—law adjustment also make this complaint. More wives (16 percent) said that in—law relation- ships was the area causing the most discord in their home than said that about any other area. An equal proportion (14 percent) of the husbands said that each of the 3 areas, in-law relation- ships, training and disciplining the children, and spending the family income, was the most troublesome area . No area was ranked first by more husbands than was in-law relationships. The area ranked first, second, or third in seriousness by the largest proportion of women was training and disciplining the children. Thirty-five percent of those with children rated this area 1, 2, or 3. In—law relationships and spending the family income were next with 36 percent naming each as problem 1, 2, or 3. In-laws is the area third most frequently rated as problem 1, 2, and 3 by husbands. Thirty-one percent rated in- laws 1,2, or 3. More wives (246) complained of an adjustment of less than "excellent" in the area of in-law relationships than reported this for any other area, Further, more wives reported rather serious conflicts in this area: 69 wives said their adjustment was only "fair," "poor", or "very poor." Among the husbands, the area of in-law relationships is fifth among all the areas for number of all degrees of complaint: -217- 189 husbands said their adjustment was "good" or less. This area ranks third among the areas for the number of serious complaints by husbands, 52 of the men complaining of "fair", "poor", or "very poor" adjustments. Table XXVII shows the relations ip between reported happiness and adjustment in in-law matters. Of the wives who had"excellent" adjustments in in-law relationships, 86.6 percent had Very Happy marriages. Sixty-nine percent of the wives with "good" adjustments in this area were Very Happy. But 60 percent with only "fair" or "poor" in-law adjustments had been able to achieve'VeryIiappy marriages, in spite of this. Eighty percent of the excellent, compared with 57 percent of the "good" in-law adjustment husbands had Very Happy marriages. Only 41 percent of those with "fair," "poor," or "Very poor", in-law adjustments had Very Happy marriages. Only 2 percent of the "excellent," 11 percent of the "good," but 27 percent of the husbands with "fair", "Poor, I! or "very poor" in-law adjustments had Average or Unhappy marriages. According to the Table, then, satisfactory in-law adjustment is slightly more closely tied up with the reported general marital happiness among the husbands than it is among the wives. Table XXVIII illustrates the relationship between how happy the marriage was to in-law relat ons ips was ranked as a problem. One third of the Very Happy wives and also a third of the - 218 - Happy wives were found to rate the area of in—law relationShips as one of their three most serious problems. Eight percent of the Very Happy than of the Happy wives reported in-law relation- ships as one of their three least_serious problems. The 24 wives who were only Average happy rated this area as problem number 1, 2, or 3 three times as frequently as they rated it 7th, 8th, or last. The relationship between these two factors is similar for husbands, with the additional fact to be noted that 7.7 percent more of the Happy than the Very Happy husbands rated this area as problem 1, 2, or 5. The relationship between how seriously separation has been considered and adjustment of the couple in in—law matters, may be seen in Table XXIX. ‘While 86 percent of the wives and 88 percent of the husbands with "excellent" in-law adjustments had "never considered? separating, only 11 percent of the wives and nine percent of the hustands with "excellent" adjustments in this area had "not seriously" considered separating, and three percent of husbands and wives had "somewhat seriously" or "seriously" considered it. This relationship was about as close as for any of the areas. That is, for both husbands and wives, about 50 percent more of those with "excellent" in-law adjustments than of those with flfair," "poor," or "very poor" in-law adjustments, had "never considered" separating from their spouses. There were even 16 percent more wives and 21 percent more husbands with "excellent” than with - 219 - "good" adjustments in in-law relationships, who had "never considered" separating. However, this difference between those with "fair," "poor," or "very poor" adjustments and those with "excellent adjustments who had "never considered" separating, is not very great as compared to other areas. Forty—five percent more wives and 58 percent more husbands with "excellent" than with "fair," "poor," or "very poor" se§_ adjustments had "never considered" separating. For social activities and recreation, the relationship is the closest: 50 percent more of the wives and 59 percent more of the husbands with perfect rather than with poor adjustment in this area had never thought of divorce. (Only 25 wives and 42 husbands constitute the sample of poor adjustment in social activities and recreation). Only in the area of religious matters is there a weaker relationship. The relationship between how seriously separation had been considered and the ranking of in-law relationships as a problem, is taken up in Table XXX. Twenty-three percent more wives and 24 percent more husbands who had "never considered" separating, ranked in-law relationships as their 7th, 8th,c1r last problem than rated it one of their first three most serious problems. And among those who had ”not seriously" considered separating, three percent more wives and two percent more husbands rated in-law problems as one of their first three problems than - 220 - of their i333 three problems. Or, 25 percent more of the wives and 24 percent more of the husbands who had "never considered" separating, ranked the area of in—law relationships as one of their three last troublesome problems than rated it one of the top three. Among the 57 wives and 59 husbands who had "somewhat seriously" or "seriously" considered separating, the reverse is true. For these women lo percent more freqently and the men 28 percent more often ranked in-laws as problem 1, 2, or 5, rather than as 7, 8, or last. A study of Table XXXI indicates that there is a positive relationship between the seriousness of the major problem and the reported adjustment in the area of in-law relationships. Of those with "excellent" adjustments in the area or in-law relationships, only 10 percent of the wives and 11 percent of the husbands had "eXtremely," "quite", or "moderately serious" problems in their marriages. No other area had as few cases reporting the combination of "excellent" adjustments with serious problems. Twenty three percent more of the wives and 20.5 percent more of the husbands with "excellent" in-law adjustments reported "trivial" than reported very serious problems. This is a greater tendency for an "excellent" adjust- ment in an area to be accompanied by a "trivial” problem than for areas of sex, income, social activities and recreation, and religion. - 221 - The area of in-law relationships was ranked as a major problem more frequently by those who had serious marital problems than by those who only had insignificant problems. This relation- ship may be observed in Table XXKII. Thirty—nine percent more wives and 30 percent more husbands with "extremely, quite, or moderately serious" problems said that in-laws was one of the three most troublesome areas than ranked it 7th, 8th, or last. And a few more wives and l7 percent more husbands with "trivial" problems, said that in-laws ranked as one of their three least serious problems than reported the area as one of the three topmost difficulties. In-law* adjustment Excellent Good Fair or poor (No response) In—lar adjustment Excellent Good Fair, poor, or very poor (No response) ..222 —- IABLE XXVII marital happiness according to the adjustment of the couple in in-lal relationships, as reported by wives and by husbands. EbW'HapEz As reported by wives: very happy. E2222” Amara e 56 ,1 % i= 95“‘J%? 86.6 (2533 11.6 (34) 1.7 (5; 69 (123 25 (45) 6 (11 60 (42) as (20) 11 (8) HoW'HapEy As reported.by husbands: Unhappy or very happy, Ha . Amara e % é= 5%"Jaa%= ' 80 (280) 18 (63) 2 (6) 57 (79) 32 (44) 11 (16) 41 (21) 31 (16) 27 (14) AA ha AHN “Clem VVV E (349) (139) (51) 544 -223- TABLE XXV’III Marital happiness according to the ranking of in-law relationships in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: Bow happy the marriage is HbW'in-laws is ranked in seriousness as a problem Very happy m Average E Problem 1‘: % 4 % 4 7: 4 1, 2, or 3 35 (137) s (32) 50 (12) 4, 5, or 6 14 (6o) 23 (23) 33. (8) 7, 8, or last 53 (222) 45 S44) 17 (4) (No response) (1) N : (419) (99) (24) .As reported by husbands: How happy the marriage is flew in-laws is ranked in ' seriousness as a problem Very Happy Happy Average E mm... 4: 7s 4 7% 4 % 4 1, 2, or 3 28.3 (109) 36 (45) 46 (17) 4, 5, or 6 16.3 (62) 28 (65) 35 (13) 7, 8, or last 55.3 (212) 36 S44) 19 $7) (No response) (1) N:(383) (124) (37) -224- TABLE JDCIIX The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the adjustment of the couple in in-law relationships, as reported by wives and by husbands. A8 reported by wives: How seriously considered separating In-law Never Not Somewhat seriously adjustment Considered Seriousl or seriouslyy N 50 g I is i 79— it Excellent 86 (250) 11 (31) 3 _ (11) (292) Good 70. (125) 21 (37) 9 (17) (179) Fair, poor 57 (4o) 30 (21) 13 (9) (70) or very poor (No response) 3 544 As reported by husbands: How seriously considered separating In-law Never Not Somewhat seriously adjustment Considered Seriousl or seriouslyg N fif‘ 6?? %» g; % ii Excellent 8 (308) 9 (31) 3 (10) (349) Good 67 (93) 22 (22) 11 (11) (139) Fair, poor 57 (29) 20 (10) 23 (12) (51) or very poor (No response) 59 544 -225- TABLE m The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the ranking of in-law relationships in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How seriously considered separating How in-laws is ranked in . seriousness as Never con- Not ser- Somewhat seriously a problemw sideréd it iously or seriously _N_ Problem #3 % {E % it % it 1, 2, or 3 3 (128) 4 (37) 43 (16) 4, 5, or 6 15 (64) 19 (17) 30 (11) 7, 8, or last 54 225 39 (35)- 27 (10) (No response) (1) N : (417) (89) (37) As reported by husbands: How seriously considered separating How in-laws is ranked in 7 seriousness as Never con- Not ser- Somewhat seriously aproblem sidered it iously or serioule E Problem is; % i? % {it % 1;; 1, 2, or 3 29 (125) 39 (28) 46 (18) 4, 5, or 6 18 (78) 24 (17) 36 (14) 7, 8, or last 53 (230) 37 (26) 18 (7) (No response) (1) N g (433) (71) (39) _— -226- TABLE XXXI The seriousness of the most trouble- some area according to the adjustment of the couple in-law relationships, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How serious the most serious problem is: Extremely, quite, In-law or moderately Not very ' Not worth agjustment serious serious Trivial mentioning fl 3”? 7% m 7“? % 3' Excellent 10 (28) 24 (71) 33 (97) 33 (96) (292) Good 26 (46) 33 (60) 23 (41) 18 (32) (179) Fair, poor, 57 (4o) 27 (19) 12* (8) 4 (3) (70) or very poor (No response) 3 544 As reported by husbands: How serious the most serious problem is :3 Extremely, quite, In-law or moderately Not very Not worth adjustment serious serious Trivial mentioning E %* $9 % A#=% %9 7? Excellent 11 (39) 33. 5 (117)31. 5(110) 24 (83) (349) Good 32 (44) 33 (46)24 (33) 11 (16) (139) Fair, poor 62 (32) 20 (1o)14 (7) 4 (2) (51) or very poor (No response) T32} 544 -227- TABLE XXXII The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the ranking of in-laws relationships in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by hUSbanda‘e As reported by wives : How serious problem #1 is How in-laws is Extremely, ranked in quite, seriousness as or moderately Not very Not worth a problem serious serious Trivial mention 1 Problem 7%: % a? % 3“ % it % “i“ 1, 2, or 3 59 (68) 37 (56) 39 (57) o (c) 4, 5, or 6 21 (24) 27 (4o) 19 (28) o (o) 7, 8, or last 20 (23) 36 55 42 (61) 100 (131) (No response) (1) N ; (115) (151) (146) (131) As reported by husbands: How serious problem f 1 is How in-laws is Extremely, ranked in quite, seriousness as or moderately Not very Not worth . a prlem serious Serious Trivial mentioning _1: Problem 3%: T . _ 7% # % s % 3* % # 1, 2, or 3 51.3 (60) 38 (65) 30 (46) o (c 4, 5, or 6 27.3 (32) 24 (42) 23 (35) o (o) 7, 8, or last 21.3 (25) 38 (35) 47 £71) 100 (102) (No response) " "' (l) N g (117) (172) (152) (102) — 228 - Social activities and recreation One hundred thirty-eight of the wives and l32 of the husbands with imperfect agreements in the area of social activities and recreation, specified their complaint. The largest number of criticisms concern differences in the things the spouses like to do for amusement; Nineteen wives and only four husbands complained that their spouses did not like to dance or couldn't dance. Eleven wives lamented the fact that their spouses were too interested in sports and 17 husbands said their wiveS'were either not interested enough in sports or not athletic enough. Another 41 wives and 58 husbands disagreed with their spouses on soxe other activity: one liked to participate in the activity and the other dislimed it. Altogether, 64 percent of the complaints specified by husbands and 57 percent of those by wives were disagreements as to which recreational activity they should participate in. line wives and 13 husbands said their spouses wanted to go out too frequently. Nine wives complained that their husbands went off "with the fellows" and six husbands complained that their wife never let them go off alone or that she did not like to go out with him alone. Another group of lh wives and 13 husbands regretted that their spouses were awkward in social situations, that is, that the spouse was unskilled in recreational activi- ties such as bdwling or bridge, or that he could not deal with people well in social activities. Some of these answers overlap -229- with the complaints made about the area of choice of friends. The coefficients of correlation that have been computed between adjustment in the area of social activities and recreation and happiness are +.386 for husbands and +.31h for wives. (Table VI). This is a closer relationship than for any area except sex relations. Two characteristics of the sample would lead one to expect this close relationship. First, these couples have been uprooted from their associations in their home towns; so husbands and wives must rely on one another for entertainment. Further, the couples probably have a middle class background which leads them to expect to take their recreation together. Disagreements in this area would probably be upsetting to the harmony of the whole marriage relationship. When the informants were asked to rank the areas in the order in which they caused discord in their home, (Table V), nine percent of all the husbands and all the wives in the sample re- ported that their most serious marital problem was in the area of social activities and recreation. Three other areas were named by more husbands and wives as the area of most difficulty than was social activities and recreation. This area was tied for fourth place, among the husbands, with the area of sex relations. - 230 - Thirty percent of the husbands and 28 percent of the wives listed social activities and recreation as one of their three most troublesome areas. The area which was most frequently listed as first, second, or third problem was so listed by 39 percent of the husbands and 35 percent of the wives. Thus, social activities and recreation received 8 percent fewer selections from husbands and 7 percent fewer reportings from wives than did the area which was mgst frequently listed as problem 1, 2, and 3. An examination of the adjustment or agreement that each individual reported he had with his spouse, reveals that 269 husbands and 218 wives complained that their adjustment in this area was not perfect, that is, that he and his spouse did not agree "almost all the time". More husbands reported that their agreement in this area was less than complete than made this complaint about any other area. The area ranks fourth in order of number of complaints among wives. The 269 complaints of husbands and 218 of wives include the responses: "Ve agree most of the time," "--half of the time", "--seldom," and "--almost never." If only the last three most vehement responses are enumerated, it is found that the area of social activities and recreation ranks only fourth among both husbands and wives in order of the number of serious complaints. - 231 - Forty—three husbands and424 wives reported that they agreed with their spouses over matters in this area "half the time," "seldom," or "never". When compared with other areas, social activities and recreation provoked only a moderate number of serious complaints, but when husbands and wives are compared it is evident that this area provoked more husbands than wives to complain both lightly and seriously. Fifty—nine percent of the wives but 50.5 percent of the husbands did not complain of imperfect adjustment in this area. Table XXXIII shows the relationship between adjustment in social activities and recreation and happiness in this area, 85 percent of the wives and 84 percent of the husbands agreed with their spouses “almost all the time" and were Very Happy. Seventy percent of the wives and 54 percent of the husbands agreed only "most of the time" and were Very Happy. Only 22 percent of the 23 wives and only 21 percent of the 42 husbands who agreed only "half the time," "seldom", or "never," had Very Happy marriages. This would make it appear that agreement in this area is important to marital happiness, and that it was about equally important to husbands and wives. In Table XXXIV, the ranking of social activities as a problem according to the happiness of the marriage, is reported. There is plainly some relationship between those two factors. Fewer than half the wives and husbands who were Very Eappy said 1 . - a a o ‘ ' tnat soclal act1v1ties and recreation was one of their first - 232 - £35 problems: 54 percent of the Very Happy wives and 57 percent of the Very Happy husbands reported that this area was only 7th, 8th, or last of their trouble spots. This tendency is not com- pletely reversed for the Average happy or Unhappy individuals, but an opposite trend is obvious: a third of the 35 Average happy wives said this area was problem 1, 2, or 3, another third reported that it ranked 4th,5th, or 6th among théir problems, and the other third said it was 7th, 8th, or last in causing discord. This trend was more pronounced among the 24 husbands. Even the husbands and wives who were Happy more frequently reported the area as problem 1, 2, or 5 than did those who were Very Happy. The relations ip between how seriously separation has been considered and the adjustment of the couple in social activities and recreation is revealed in Table XXXV. Eighty- five percent,of all the wives and 90 percent of the husbands who had "never considered" separating from their spouses, re- ported that they agreed "almost all the time" in the area of social activities and recreation. This may be compared with the 67 percent of wives who agreed in this area Only "most of the time " and the 35 percent who agreed "half the time," and had "never considered" separating from their husbands. For the husbands, the picture is similar: 15 percent more husbands with perfect adjustment in the area of social activities and recreation than W1th imperfect agreement, had "never considered" divorce. - 233 - It is also seen, in Table XXXVI, that among those husbands and wives who had "me er considered” separating from their spouses, more rated social activities and recreation 7, 8, or last in order of causing them troutle, than rated it first, second, or third. On the other hand, of those who "not seriously" considered separating, more rated this area as one of their first three problems than ranked it among their last three trouble spots. The relationship between how serious the most serious problem is and adjustment in social activities and recreation is shown in Table XXXVII. Of those who reported that they had "extremely," "quite," or "moderately serious". problems, l2 percent more of the wives and ll percent more of the husbands said they agreed with their spouses in social activities and recreation only "most of the time," rather than F'alnost all the time;" and 37 percent more of the wives and 36 percent more of the husbands with very serious problems said their agreement was only "half the time" " seldom," or "never" than said they agreed "almost all the time." Those with serious problems more frequently had a poor adjustment in this area, and those who did not have a serious problem were found, in greater proportions, to be reporting a good adjustment in this area. Unlike the areas of spending the family income and sexual relations, the ranking in order of troublesomeness of the area of social activities and recreation is not definitely 1234- associated with the seriousness of the individual's most serious problem. (Table XXXVIII). In fact, more wives, (10 percent) with very serious problems rated this area as one of their three most inconsequential problems than rated it££30ne of their three most serious problems. - 255 - TABLE XXXIII Marital happiness according to the agreement ofthe couple on social activities and recrea- tion, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives How Happy Agreement on Social Activities and Recreation Very Happy Happy Average 3 7» o 0 Almost all the time 85 (276) 15 (41) 2 (6) (525) Agree most of time 70 (158) 24 (47) 6 (12) (197) Agree half of time 22 (5) 52 (12) 26 (6) (23) or seldom, (No response) (1) 544 As reported by husbands: HOW Happy Agreement on Social Activities gpd Recreation Very Happ Happy Avera e E 2 ‘5 2"“? 7‘40 4 Almost all the thme 85.6 (250) 12.7 (55) 5.6 (10) (275) Agree most of time 64 (145) 52 (72) 4 (10) (227) Agree half of time, 21 (9) 58 (16) 40 (17) (43) Seldom or never. (544) - 256 - TABLE XXXIV Marital happiness according to the ranking of social activities and recreation in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: , How happy the marriage is How social activities and recreation is ranked in seriousness as a problem Very Happ PrOblemfii %7 %? l, 2, or 5 27 (105) 4, 5, or 6 19 (74) 7, 8, or last 54 (205) (No response) 2 II (584) As reported by husbands: How Happy the marriage is How social activities and recreation is ranked in seriousness as a problem Very Happy Problem#; 6 ‘- l, 2, or 5 25%; (1038 7, 8, or last 57 (258) NI (419) Happy 3 33 (33 ) 19 (19 ) 48 (48) (100) Average N 2T"""'" 1. (12) (12) (11) (2) (35) Average or Unhappy-r or (9) (11) El (24) -237- TABLE XXXV The seriousneSS'with which sep- aration has been considered accord- ing to the adjustment of the couple in social activities and recreation, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: Iow seriously considered separating Adjustment in social activities Never Not Somewhat seriously and recreation Considered Seriously or seriously N Agree 3 7% if? i 1’; % if .- Almost all the time 85 (276) 11 (35) 4 (12) (333) Most of the time 67 (133) 25 (45) 10 (19) (:97) Half the time or 35 (8) 39 (9) 26 (6) (23) seldmn (No response) (1) As reported by husbands: How seriously considered separating Adjustment in social activities Never Not Somewhat seriously and recreation fi_- Considered Seriously or seriously N Agree: 7: ¥ % $ 7; # _- .Ahnost all the time 90 (247) 8 (23) 2 (5) (275) Most of the time 77 (174) lb (64) 8 (19) (2Z7) Half the time, 31 ( 15) 33 (14) 36 (15) (42) seldom, or never (544$ - 258 - TABLE XXXVI The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the ranking of social activities and re- creation in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How seriously considered separating How social activities and recreation is ranked in seriousness as a problem Problefif? 1, 2, or 3 4, 5, or 6 7, 8, or last (No response) Somewhat seriously Never con- Not ser- sidered it iously 57* fl — % 24 (105) 42 (37% 17 (70) 18 (16) 59 (245) 49_ (36) N: (417) (89) As reported by husbands; How seriously considered separating How social activities and recreation is ranked in seriousness as a problem Problem#: 1, 2, or 3 4, 5, or 6 7, 8, or last Never con- Not ger- sidered it iously 3 ‘33—‘73 39 (125) 42 (30) 20 (88) 28 (20) 51 (2219 1?? (212 (434) (71) or seriously N: (32.5 (12)# 43 (16) 24.5 9) (1) (37) Somewhat seriously N or seriously 3 11‘ ‘ 3 (12) 38 (15) 31 (132 (39) - 239 :1. TABLE XXXVII The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the adjustment of the couple in social activities and recreation, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How serious the most serious problem is: Adjustment in Extremely, quite, social activities or moderately Not very Notrworth and recreation serious 1__ serious Trivial mentioning Agree : 7o 395 7:: ¥ % 75,7: 7; if Almost all the time 15 (49) 26 (83) 28 (92) 31 (99) Most of the time 27 (54) 31 (62) 26 (50) 16 (31) Half the time or 52 (12) 26 (6) 18 (4) 4 (1) Seldom (No response) As reported by husbands: How serious the most serious problem is Adjustment in Extremely, quite, social activities or moderately Not very NOt worth and recreation serious serious Trivial mentioning Agree : % if 73 $5 % # 73 if Almost all the time 14 (38) 27 (75) 32 (88) 27 (74) Most of the time 25 (58) 37 (83) 26 (59) 12 (27) Half the time, 50 (21) 56 (15} 12 (5) seldom or never 2 (1) <1“ N w TABLE XXXVIII The seriousness of the most troublesome prob- lem area according to the ranking of social activities and recreation in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How serious problem% 1 is How social activities and recreation is Extremely, ranked in seriousness quite or mod- Not very Not worth as a problem erately serious serious Trivial mention N Problem 3: 3 35 % a? % # 75 it 1, 2, or 3 31 (56) 39 (59) 57.5 (55) O (O) 4, 5, or 3 23 (3~) 34.5 (37) 22.5 (33) o (o) 7, 8, or last 41 (47) 55.5 (55) 4O (58) 100 (150) (No response) (1) (113) (151) (143) (130) As reported by husbands How serious problem # 1 is How social activities and recreation is Extremely, ranked in serio ' . 1- as a Problem usness 2::E:1;F nod Not very . . NOt worth Problem #: a sen;ous serious TflVlal mentio; .E i: g: g: g 33 (59) 41.5 (72) 39 (56) o (o) 7' 8' or 1 t 57 (43) 25 (43) 24 (37) o (o) ' 3 as 30 (35) 33.5 (58) 39 (59) 100 {102) N = (117) (173) (132) (102) - 241 - Choice of friends When questioned as to what the spouse did to irritate them in associating with friends, those who had imperfect ad- justments in this area, made the following types of reports. Ninety-eight husbands and 86 wives said that their spouse was not nice to friends, showed dislike of them, did not act friendly unless felt like it, was sarcastic, or argumentive withishem, monopolized the conversation, acted in a way that embarassed the spouse, bragged, showed off, was childish, drank heavily, talked about himself, or acted selfish or self-centered. Other similar habits were listed that have been classified as one spouse being disatisfied with the other's lack of poise or unpolished way of dealing with other people. Criticisms of this type were the kind made most frequently of all types by both husbands and wives. Twenty-three wives and 22 husbands also reported that their spouses were unsociable, unfriendly, "hard to get to know: or would rather not associate with other people. This criticism includes shyness er indifference toward other people, rather than rudeness due to lack of training in social techniques. An attempt has been made to draw a line between social incompetence due to reluctance or reticence and incompetence because of lack of polish. The next most frequent compaint, (made by 22 husbands and 23 wives), is that the spouse is too friendly with friends, - 242 - 1eaves her out of conversations, tells them of personal money or family matters, ignores her, or goes off with the fellows leaving her alone. Seven husbands and 8 wives disagree with their spouse on who shall be their friends. Either his friends are undesirablev or he criticises her friends. Five husbands and three wives say their spouses want too much company, or that they want to visit others too often. The area of choice of mutual friends was more fre- quently complained of by husbands than by wives. Two hundred fifty-two husbands, (46 percent), and 194 wives, (56 percent), reported that they agreed with their spouses less than "almost all the time." This is second of the areas for the number of complaints among husbands, and fifth among the areas for wives. (Only the area of socialectivities and recreation was complained of by more husbands.) But in number of serious complaints, (that is, complaints that the agreement was only "half the time," "seldom," or "never"), the area of choice of mutual friends ranks fifth among the areas for both husbands and wives. Twenty-nine husbands and 21 wives made serious complaints about their adjustment in this area. (Table VII) Of all the areas, the choice of mutual friends was listed least frequently as a prominent problem by the wives. -243_- In Table V , only three percent of them reported that this area was their single most serious problem. Fewer wives reported the area as one of their first th:33_problems than reported this for any other area. In any of these ways of reckoning, the choice of mutual friends was less frequently the main trouble spot for wives than was any other area listed. Among the husbands, this area was tied for last place with religion, for the proportion who rated it their most serious problem. Each of these two areas was reported by five percent of the husbands to be their top problem. But six percent more husbands rated the area of choice of mutual friends as one of their top thgge.prollems thaLLgaVe this . ratingto the area of religion. Table XXXIX reveals the relationship between adjust- ment in the area of choice of friends and happiness. There is a greater difference for husbands between the percent who agreed "almost all the time" and were Very Happy and the percent who agreed only "most of the time" and who were Very Happy, than there is for wives. There are 82 percent Very Happy wives who agreed "almost all the time" and 72 percent who agreed "most of the time:" there are 80 percent Very Happy husbands who agreed "almost all the time" and 62 percent who agreed "most of the time." To this extent, an imperfect adjustment in this area is more closely related to a less than perfect marital happiness among - 244 - husbands than among wives. In comparing the areas to see if satisfactory adjust- ment in some is more important to happiness than is satisfactory adjustment in others, a comparison will be made between the areas, of the proportion of cases who were Very Happy and who had a perfect adjustment in the area. Eighty-seven percent of the men and 85 percent of the women who reported that they had "excellent" sex adjustments were Very Happy. Since this is the highest pro- portion for both men and women, who were perfectly satisfied with their marriages and had a perfect adjustment in the area, this is some evidence that a satisfactory sex adjustment and general marital happiness are more important to one another than are happiness and satisfactory adjustment in the other areas. In comparison to the area of sex relations, 82 percent of.the ‘wives and 83 percent of the husbands with perfect adjustments in the choice of mutual friends were Very Happy. This area ranks low in the degree of relationship as tested by this index. The degree is about the same as for in-laW'relationships among husbands, and religion and spending the family income among the husbands and wives. The relationship between the happiness of the marriage and the ranking of the area of choice of friends as a problem, is expressed in Table XL. A slightly larger proportion (four percent more), of the wives who reported their marriages to be Happy, than of those who said they were Very Happy, had rated choice of mutual friends as one of their top three problems. And 11 percent - 245 - more wives who were Very Happy rated this area as problem 7, 8, or 9, than those who were only lappy. Only in the areas of in-law relationships and religion is there less evidence of a relationship. In every area, there is a greater difference between the proportion of Very Happy husbands who had perfect adjustments in the area and the proportion of Very Happy ones who had imperfect adjustments, than there is for wives. Husbands with hnperfect adjustments in an area reported Very Happy marriages less frequently than did wives. That is, husbands did not report an injury unless they were really hurt. The tendency may be more prevalent among wives than among husbands to survey their marriage critically, and even though they felt happy about their overall marriage situation, the questionnaire might have stimulated them to report their least disaatisfactions. Perhaps the women were more interested than the men in the type of self-analysis that the questionnaire required and were more flattered that someone was interested in their marriage. The result was that the wives answered the questions more thoroughly. A questionnaire which asks, "In your marriage, have you ever felt the need for a con- ference with a marriage counselor?" and "Do you think M. S. C. should employ a regular trained marriage counselor as part of the counselling or guidance staff?" is perhaps more of an affront to the male, whose role demands self- sufficiency and independence, 0 than it is for the female, whose role permits weakness and the - 246 - admission of the need for assistance. The man would be less likely to report a deficiency in his marriage unless it actually existed. It has been found that the happiness of husbands is certainly more associated with adjuStment in each of the areas, than is the happiness of the wives. Further, a good many of the wives who reported, felt that they had more time in which to work on the questionnaire. Personal contact with them revealed this. The lengthy answers that were given by more wives than husbands gave further evidence that the wives spent more time and elfort on their replies. The husband would be less apt to pour over his answers to the questionnaire until he could find a complaint. A questionnaire would evoke more complete answers, and thus, more complaints, from the person who was willing to devote a great deal of thought and.time tc) filling it out. The relationship between how seriously separation had been considered and the adjustment of the couple in choice of mutual friends is revealed in Table XLI. Eighty-one percent of the wives said they had never considered separating from their spouses and that they had a perfect agreement over choice of mutual friends. This is the same proportion of wives with no thoughts of divorce who reported "excellent" religion adjustments. No Other area had so few. Further, only eight percent more wives who agreed ever choice of friends "almost all the time" than who agreed only "most of the time" had " ' e _ never con51dered"divorce. Only the area of religion, (with a - 247 - five percent difference), shows a smaller difference between thOse with a perfect adjustment and those with an imperfect adjustment in the area. Eighty-eighty percent of the husbands reported that they had "never considered" separating and they had a p rfect agreement in the area of choice of mutual friends. The difference between the husbands with no thoughts of divorce who agreed "almost all the time" and who agreed\"most of the time," in choice of friends, is 14 percent. The areas of in-law relationships, sexual relations, and spending the family income, all show a larger pro- portional difference between those with no thoughts of divorce who had perfect adjustxents and those who had imperfect ad- justments in the area. In Table XLII, the relationship between thoughts of divorce and the ranking of choice of friends as a proclan,b portrayed. Only 1.5 percent more of the wives who had "not aeriously" considered separation, than of those who had never thought of it, ranked the area of choice of friends as one of the three major troubles. Ten percent more of the wives who had "never considered" divorce, than of those who had hot seriously'tnought about it, ranked choice of friends as one of their least significant problems. No area except religion displays such a scant relationship between the ranking of the area as a problem and the extent to which divorce has been considered. Among the husbands, there is a closer relationship between the two factors. Those who had "never considered" separation - 248 - ranked choice of:friends 10 percent less_frequently as problem 1, 2, or three, and 23 percent m2:3_as problem 7, 8, or 9, than did those who had "not seriously" considered divorce. There is a slight relationship between how serious the major problem is, and the adjustment in the area of choice of friends, as is revealed in Table XLIII. Of those wives who agreed "almost all the time" in the area of mutual friends, 11 percent more re- ported "trivial" than "extremely; quite"or"moderately serious" marital problers. Only the area of spending the family income shows a lower relationship through the comparison of these bwo factors. Among the husbands who agreed "almost all the time” with their spouses in the area of choice of friends, 14 percent had "trivial" than had very serious problems. Only the areas of in-law relationships and social activities and recreation show a higher relationship between these two factors among the husbands. Those with very serious marital problems did not rank the area of choice of friends as one of their top problems more frequently than did those without serious groblems. In fact, there is seen in Table XLIV, a very slight tendency in the opposite direction. That is, a very few more cases with " .., ' H ' ° not aery serious or "tr1V1al" problems rated choice of friends as problem 1, 2, or 3. This situation which occurs only in the areas of social activities and recreation and the - 249 - choice of mutual friends, is characteristic of both husbands and wives. This may possibly indicate that when individuals have no other problem to list, they can search relentlessly and find some small annoyance that their spouse-causes them in the area of choice of mutual friends which justifies them in ranking the area as their major "problem". Some may even list this to appear that they are capable of filling out the questionnaire. For they might feel that leaving a question blank which asks that they list their problems in order, might give the examiners the impression that they were uncooperative or stupid. # #=A great many informants said that their problems were so slight that they could not even attempt to rank them in order of serious- ness. When this type of questionnaire was received, all areas were given the code of ”9". in cases where the informant did not rank any of the areas because they were all too trivial, a code " n r . . . . of 9 was used, to indicate that the areas were "last" in seriousness. Marital happiness according to the agreement of the couple on the choice of mutual friends, -- 250 - TABLE XXXIX as reported by wives and by husbands. Agreement on 2110106 of Friends Agree: Almost all the time Most of the time Half of the time, seldom or never (No response) How Happy VerLHappy % 82 (288) 72 (126) 25 (5) As reported by wives : Hap m % :a 14 (so) 23 (4o) 45 (9) As reported by husbands : Agreement on Choice of Friends Agree: Almost all the time Most of the time Half of the time seldom or never Haw Happy Veg Happy Happy .% -¥= % ;a s (235) 15 (44) 62 (139) 32 (7o) 34 (10) 31 (9) cnmcna‘l Is: (348) (174) (20) TB} 544 How choice of - 251 - TABLE XL marital happiness according to the ranking of choice of mutual friends in seriousness as a problem area, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How happy the marriage is mutual frien ds is ranked in seriousness as a problem Very happy m Ave 9 E Problem #: % a 7% it % a 1, 2, or 3 1 (53) 17 (17) 12.5 (3) 4, 5, or 6 24 (100) 31 (31) 41.5 (10) 7, 8, or last 63 $2652 52 $52! 46 $112 (No response) . (1) N :(418) (100) (24) How choice of As reported by husbands :- How happy the marriage is mutual friends is ranks d in seriousness as a problem Problem 3%: 1, 2, or 3 4, 5, or 6 7, 8, or last (No response) Va 31 happy Happy Average 3 % a % it 9% +44 17 (67) 22.5 (28) 24 ( g 25 (95) 35.5 (44) 41 (15 58 (221) 4a (52) 35 (13) ( ) "“' 1 N :(383) (124) (37) - 252 .. TABLE RI The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the agreement of the couple on the choice of mutual friends, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How seriously considered separating Adjustment in ' Choice of Friends Agrees; Almost all the time Host of the time Half of the time, seldom or never (No response) Never Considered 7a (at) 7 (128) 20 (4) Not ’ Somewhat seriously Seriously or seriously E % w % - 14 (48) 5 (16) (348) 19 (33) 8 (13) (1743 40 (8) 4o (8) (20 2 544 As reported by husbands: How seriously considered separating Adjustment in Choice of Friends Agree: Almost all the time Most of the time Half of the time, seldom, or never Never Considered gs (25g) 74 (166) 41 (12) Not Somewhat seriously Serioule or seriously _N_ % a? 7?» a? ' 8 (23) 4 (13) (292) 19 (42) 7 (15) (223) 21 (6) 38 (11) (29) 544 — 253‘- IABLE ILII The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the ranking of choice of mutual friends in serious- ness as a problem area. As reported by wives: How seriously separating has been considered How choice of mutual friends is ranked in seriousness as a problem Problemm#w l, 2, or 3 4, 5, or 6 7, 8, or last (No response) Never con- sidered it % . 13 (53) 23 (97) 64 (287) N = (417) Not ser- iously % «4 14.5 (13) 34.5 (30) 51.1441 (89) As reported by husbandszr Somewhat seriously or seriously 3 % . 19 (7) 40.5 (15) 40.5 (15) (1) (37) How seriously has separation been considered How choice of mutual friends is ranked in seriousness as a 'prob lem Problem «#2 1,, 2, or 3 4, 5, or 6 7, 8, or last (No response) Never con- sidered it 4 4 1 (73) 26 (112) 57 (248) N g. (433) Bot ser- iously % 4E 27 (19) 39 (28) 34 (24) (71) Somewhat seriOusly or seriously .1: % 4E 31 (12) 33 (13) 36 11.41 (39) (1) -254- TABLE XLIII The seriousness of the most trouble- some problem area according to the agreement of the couple in the choice of mutual friends, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How serious the most serious problem is Extremely, quite , Adjustment in or moderately Not very Choice of Friends serious serious Trivial Agree: “ Almost all the time 18 (83) 25 (86) 29 (102 28 Most of the time 23 (40) 33 (57; 25 (43$ 19 Half of the time, 60 (12) 35 (7 5 (1 o seldom, or never (No response) As reported by husbands: How serious the most serious problem is Extremely, quite, Adjustment in or moderately Not very Choice of Friends serious serious Trivial Agree: 7% 4" 7’. 44 % 4 Almost 411 the time 17 (50) 27 (78 31 (91) nest of the time 24 (54) 39 (86) 25 (55) Half of the time, 45 (13) 31 (9) 21 (8) seldom, or never Not worth mentioning _li (97)(348) (34) (174) (0) (20) 79% 544 Not worth mentioning 3i % 25 (73) (292) 12 (28) (223) 3 (1) (29) 544 -255- TABLE LXIV The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the ranking of choice of mutual friends in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How serious problem 3f 1 is How choice of mutual friends Extremely, is ranked in quite, seriousness as or moderately Not very Not worth a problem serious serious Trivial mentioning .11 Problem 2*: % . 4? % it % 49* % 1F 1, 2, or 3 16 (18) 18.5 (28) 18.5(27) o (o) 4, 5, or 6 34 (39) 36.5 (55) 33 (48) o (o) 7, 8, or last 50 (58) 45 68 48. (71) 100(1002 (No response) (1) N :(115) (151) (148) (131) As reported by husbands: How serious problem #2 1 is How choice of mutual friends Extremely, is ranked in quite, seriousness as or moderately Not very Not worth a problem serious serious Trivial mentioning E Problem {*3 73 if % 73“ 7' i 75 # 1, 2, or 3 22 (26) 23 (39; 26 (39) o: (o) 4, 5, or 6 37 (43) 37 (65 30 (45) o (o) 7, 8, or last 41 (48) 4o (69) 44 (67) 100 (102) ( ) 1 (Rio response) N = (117) (173) (151) (102) Religion These men and women who complain about an imperfect ad- justment in the area of religion, specify their differences as being of the following types: Of the 100 complaints described by wives, 82 concern annoyance at their spouses' disinterest in religion. The husband will not go to church, he takes religion too lightly, "hasn't the desire to grow religiously," is skeptical or doesn't believe in religion at all, or is disrespectful or irreverent of the church. Only 34 of the 40 complaints made by husbands about their adjustment in religion fall in this category. That is, 82 percent of all complaints voiced ty‘wives were that the spouse was deficient in religion, compared to only 60 percent of those made by husbands. In response to a further question, also, wives were found to complain more frequently than husbands that their spouses were not religious enough. "Is your spouse about as religious as you would wish?" evoked 114 negative responses from wives, while only 45 husbands said their wives were not religious enough. But even though more wives than husbands complained that their spouses were insufficiently religious, husbands more frequently made this complaint than n Thus, irre11g1on was more disturbing to the religious person, than interest 1n religion was disturbing to the non-religious one. Only six Wives said their husbands were too religious. - 257 - This same tendency is found in the previous question. While a large number (82 percent), of wives complained that their husbands did not take sufficient interest in religion, only 27 husbands said their wives were too religious or that their wives tried to get them to go to church when they did not care to go. Only 10, (10 percent) of the wives said their spouses were too religious compared to this 45 percent of the husbands. But this number of husbands who complain of too much religion in their wives is far below the comparable proportion of wives who say their husbands a“e not religious enough. The values of the society I back up the view to the wives. They can claim moral authority when they urge their husbands to "believe" or to go to church, while the husbands are denying the accepted values of the society when they say they are not interested in religion, much less, when they try to keep their wives from it. Thus, when they do not care for religion themselves, they do not always think they have a right to criticize others who do not share their belief. They are too often under fire themselves for their unconvention- ality. The other type of complaint made by the men and women who feel maladjusted in the area of religion, concerns disputes I over which religion, denomination, or belief, is the "true" one 0 Both spouses are religious but one thinks the other practices the "wrong" religion. But only nine husbands, (15 percent of all who complain), and eight wives (eight percent of all complaining wives), - 258 - ‘ describe this type of difficulty. This is in spite of the fact that at M75 of the couples consider that they have a "mixed" religious marriage. All these mixtures are not of the basic religious divisions. For example, a few peOple considered that they had mixed marriages when one was a Lutheran and the other a Methodist. Of those who do hsve'mixed marriages, and imperfect religious adjustments there are lb wives and 17 husbands who do complain of difficulties, in addition to those just listed, that they attribute to the fact that the marriage is mixed. Most of the problems listed concern what faith to bring the children up in, or disagreements as to which church is the "right" one, or if any religion at all the "right"one. Among all these people there were only these few cases of bitterness about which was the right religion. This would make it appear that religion is not such a vital part of the marital relationship as it was formerly thought to be. Couples are not concerned with discussing religion in detail. The disputes are, instead, of one spouse having too little or too much interest in the matter. Those individuals who are clinging to their religion are not even trying to impose their particular beliefs on their spouse. They are content merely to encourage the spouse to take a little interest in God. Religion is ranked as the area causing the most diff- iculty by feweg husbands than is any other of the seven areas. It ranks second to last among wives. Five perCJnt of the husbands and 31x percent of the wives said it was their number one problem. -259- Mbre wives than huSDands also rated religion as one of their first three proolems. Thirteen percent of the husbands said religion was oneof'their first three problems, a smaller proportion than; for any other area. Sixteen percent of the wdves said religion was problem number_l, 2, (n' 3, and only the area of choice of mutual friends received fewer selections, (15 percent). But more wives complain that their adjustment in religious matters is not perfect (241), than in any other area except in-law relationships. There are more wives who say their adjustment is anything less than "excellent," (that is, "good,“ "fair," "poor," or "very poor,"). There are also more who have serious complaints in this area than in any area except in-laws. II "poor," That is, 66 wives say that their adjustment is only "fair, or "very poor." Religion is complained of by 207 husbands, and ranks fourth.among the seven areas for number of complaints. But religion is second only to the area of sex relations in the number of serious complaints that are registered. Sixty-two husbands report that their adjustment in religious matters is only "fair, poor,' or "very poor." Dbes religion now play such a slight part in the lives of a couple that a poor adjustment in this area is not disrupting to the marriage? Many complain of imperfect adjustments in this area, but few find these disagreements important enough to rank' the area as one of their major problems. - 260 - The relationship between the reported happiness of the marriage and the agreement in religious matters, may be seen in Table XLN. Only eight percent more of the wives who have "excellent" adjustments in the area of religion, than of those. with "good" adjustments, are very Happy. Among the husbands, 26 percent more wdth "excellent" than with "good" adjustments, are Very Happy. There does not appear to be a very clear relationship between the ranking of religion as a problem and reported marital happiness. In Table XLVI, the very Happy wives are seen to rate religion as one of their three most serious problems just as often as the Average happy wives, and the Very Happy wives call religion problem 1, 2, or 3 six percent more frequently than do the Happy wives. Further, exactly the same proportion (66 percent) of the Very Happy wives as of the Happy wives rate religion as one of their three $3352 serious problem areas. This table gives no indication that women with whom religion is a primary trouble spot, are any less happy than are those women with whom.religious problems rate low among their trouble areas. This means that a large group of women who have no hnportant complaints, list religion as one of their major "problems" for lack of anything more serious to list. Table XLVII shows the relationship between the reported adjustment in religious matters and whether or not - 261 - separa.tion has been considered and other areas. Of the wives who have "never considered" separating, 81 percent have an "excellent" adjustment, 76 percent a "good" adjustment, and " "poor," or "very poor" adjustment in 56 percent a "fair, religion. Thus, only five percent more wives who report an'excellent'adjustment than say their adjustment is "good," have "never considered" separating. In some other areas, there is a much greater difference in the proportion who have'never considered"divorce, between those with "excellent" and those with "good" adjustments, and between those with "excellent" and those who have "fair,""poor", or "very poor" adjustments. In sex relations, there are 85 percent who have "excellent," 72 percent with "good", and 40 percent with "fair" or "poor" adjustments who have"never considered"divorce. In spending the family income, the corresponiing percentages are 82 percent, 62 percent, and 44.5 percent, and in the area of social activities and recreation, 85 percent, 67 percent, and 35 percent. Among the husbands, the relationship between religion adjustment and thoughts of separation is slight, also. 0f the husbands, 20.5 percent more husbands with "excellent" than with "fair", "poor", or "very poor" religion adjustments, have "never considered" separation. In sex relations, 38 percent more of those who reported "excellent" than of those who reported "fair," "poor", or "very poor" adjustments had never considered divorce. In the area of spending the family income, 44 percent more, - 262 - and in social activities and recreation, 59 percent more of those with perfect than of those with imperfect adjustments, had no thdughts of separating. For wives, the differences between the proportions who reported perfect and who reported faulty adjustments, and had never considered separating, were 25 percent more in religion, 45 percent more in sex relations, 37.5 percent more in the area of Spending the family income, and 50 percent more in social actiyities and recreation. If religious difficulties commonly wrecked disaster on most families in which they occurred, it would be expected that those with poor religion adjustments would, in most cases, be those who had considered separation. But it is found that 56 percent of the wives and 64.5 percent of the husbands who have "fair," "poor," or "very poor" adjustments in religious matters, have "never considered" separating. The relationship between these two factors exists, but it is weaker than the relation between thoughts of separation and adjustment in other areas. Table XLVIII records the relationship between how seriously separation has been considered and how religion is ranked as a problem. The least . significant relationship between the ranking of ai adjust- ment area and thoughts of divorce, is found in religion. -263- For other areas; 55 percent more wives and 29 percent more husbands who had "never considered" separating than who had seriously considered it, rated sex relations as problem 7, 8, or last. In the area of spending the family income, 30 percent more wives and 27 percent more husbands who had "never," than who had seriously considered separation, reported this area as one of their three least troublesome areas. In social activities and recreation, the proportions were 34.5 percent more for wives and 20 percent more for husbands. The relationship between the seriousness of the most troublesome problem and the adjustment of the couple in religious matters is shown in Table XLIK. Of those husbands and wives with "excellent" religion adjustments, more report either that their worst problem is "not very serious," "trivial" or "not worth mentioning," than say that it is serious. In comparing this table with the tables showing the relation- ship between the seriousness of problem number one and adjust- ment in other areas, it is found that the relationship with this first factor is greater for some other areas than it is for religion. Sixteen percent of those wives who have "excellent" religion adjustments report very serious problems, while 22 percent of the wives with "good" religion adjustments say their number one prOblem is very serious. Thus, six percent more wines with "good", than with "excellent" religion - 264 - adjustments report very serious problems while 22 percent of the wives with "good" religion adjustments say their number one problem is very serious. Thus, six percent more wives with "good", than with "excellent" religion adjustments, say they have an "extremely," "quite", or "moderately serious" problem. The difference between the husbands with "excellent" and the husbands with "good" religion adjustments who report very serious problems, is also six percent. In sex relations, the difference is about the same as for the religion area: Six percent more wives and seven percent more husbands with "good" adjustments than with "excellent" adjustments in the area say their number one problem is very serious. But in the area of spending the family income, the comparable figures are 12 percent for wives and for husbands. And in social activities and recreation the percentages are 12 percent for wives,ll for husbands. Thus, in the areas of spending the family income and social activities and recreation, an im- perfect adjustment in the area is more closely associated with the presence of a serious problem than it is in religion. The seriousness of the major problem is rhown in relation to the ranking of religion as a problem, in Table L. n n quite ’n or The husbands and wives who report "extremely, "moderately serious" problems more frequently list.religion high than the men and women with "trivialu proolems. Likewise, those who do not have serious problems more frequently list religion as 7th, 8th, or last in causing discord, than do those who have serious problems. While it was found that those who listed - 265 - religion one of the top problems were often times Very Happy and had frequently "never considered" divorce, this area was apparently not listed as a major problem unless the individual also admitted that he had a rather serious problem in his marriage. That is to say, a high ranking of religion is not necessarily accompanied by marital unhappiness or serious thoughts of divorce, but for some reason, it does usually mean the presence of a rather serious problem in the marriage. - 266 - TABLE KLV Marital happiness according to the Adjustment in Religion Excellent Good Fair, ooor, or very poor (no response) Adjustment in Religion _ Excellent Good Fair, poor, or very poor adjustment of the couple in the area of religion, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How Happy Vcr happ % =# 82 (246) 74 (129) 67 (44) Average N % #= i7"""—#= " 16 (4s) 2 (7) (501) 23 (4o) 3 (6) (175) 17 (11) 17 (11) (66) Hit As reported by husbands: HOW Happy ——_———_ Very Happy# 7 Happy Average 1! 81 (27s; 15 (51) g (i? 337 ) ( ) :3 (Be 35 (51) 10 (14) (145) (31) 54 (21) 16 (10) (62) 1544, - 267 - Table XLVI Marital happiness according to the ranking of religion in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How happy the marriage is How religion is ranked in seriousness as a problem Very Happy Happy Average Problem #7 o # o # $0 ¥ 1, 2, or 3 17 (71) ll (11) 17 (4) 4, 5, or 6 17 (70) 23 (23) 33 (8) 7, 8, or last 66 (278) 66 (66) 50 (122 N: (419) (100) (24) As reported by husbands: How happy the marriage is How religion is ranked in serious- ness as a problem Ver Happ Happ Average or Unhappy Prom-mg: “‘“ °7o # 7 7 # o "(T o 1, 2, or 3 11 (43) 17 (21) 19 (7) 4, 5, or 6 21 (79) 25 (32) 3o (11) 7, 8, or last 68 (259) 56 (73) 51 (19) N = (381) (126) (37) - 268 - TABLE.XLVII The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the adjustment of the couple in religion, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How seriously considered separating Religion adjustment Excellent Good Fair, Poor, or Very Poor (No response) How Religion adjustment Excellent Good Fair,Poor, or Very Poor Never Not Somewhat seriously Considered Seriously or seriously N /o # $0 # % 1; 61 (245) 15 (44) 4 (12) (301) 76 (134) 17 (29) 7 (12) (175) 56 (37) 24 (16) 20 (13) (66) (2) 544 As reported by husbands: seriously considered separating Never Not Somewhat seriously Con81dered seriopsly or seriously N ° A 7° "1"?" % # —- _- 3; (266) 11 (36) 4 (13) (337) (106) 15 (22) 12 (17) (145) 64.5 (40) 21 (13) 14.5 (9) (62) 544 - 269 - TABLE XLVIII The seriousness with which separation has been considered according to the ranking of religion in seriousness as a problem, as reported by wives and by husbands. How seriously considered sepafiiting How religion is ranked in seriousness as a problem Problem is 1, 2, or 3 4, 5, or 6 7, 8, or last (No response) How seriously considered separating HbW'religion is ranked in seriousness as a problem As reported by wives: Never con-- sidered it % 15.3 (64) 16.3 (68) 68.3 285 N : (417) Not ser- Somewhat seriously iously or seriously A 'E % é= % 45 14.5 (13) 24.3 (9) 23.5 (21) 32.4 (12) 62 55. 43.3 $162 (1) (89) (57) As reported by husbands: Never con- Problemm¥3 l, 2, or 5 4, 5, or 6 7, 8, or last sidered it 4 4 12 (54) 21 (91) 67 (289) N = (434) Somewhat seriously or seriously Not ser- iously 4 4 ll (8) 23 28 (20) 28 61 43 49 (71) #: (9) (11) an (39) — 270 - TABLE XLIX. The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the adjustment of the couple in religion, as reported by wives and by husbands. As reported by wives: How serious the most serious problem is Extremely, quite, Religion or moderately Not very Not worth adjustment serious serious Trivial mentionin (E o 4= ~3: ‘ -4 Excellent 16 (48) 21 (65) 32 (96) 31 (92) (301) Good 22 (38) 34 (60) 25 (44) 19 (33) (175) Fair, poor, 44 (29) 38 (25) 9 (6) 9 (6) (66) Or Very poor (no response) (1) As reported by husbands: How serious the most serious problem is Excellent, quite, Religion or moderately Not very Not worth Adjustment serious serious Trivial mentioning ll 0 55'; o y- ;o - e 5 - Excellent 17 (56) 30 (102) 30 (101) 23 (78) (337) Good 23 (34) 35 (5o) 27 (39) 15 (22) (145) Fair, poor, 44 (27) 34 (21) 19 (12) 3 (2) 62 or Very Poor 544 - 271 - TABLE L The seriousness of the most troublesome problem area according to the ranking of religion in seriousness as a problem. How'religion is ranked in seriousness as a problem Problem #2 l, 2, or 3 4, 5, or 6 7, 8, or last (No response) How religion is ranked in seriousness as a problem As reported by wives: How serious problem $5 1 is Problem «1*: l, 2, or 3 4, 5, or 6 7, 3, or last Extremely, quite, or moderately* Not very Not worth serious serious Trivial mentioning 1 7% :4 % 4 % ‘4 % :4 25 (29) 22 (32) 17.5(25) o (o) 25 (29) 22 (34) 25.5(38) o (o) 50 (572 56 (85) 57 (83) 100' (130) (1) N :(115) (151) (146) (130) As reported by husbands: How serious problem 4=1 is Extremely, quite, or moderately Not very Not worth serious serious Trivial mentioning % ”1’: o 3" o I o _‘H 22 (276) {4 (2%") {a (23") 6 (8°) 30 (35) 28 (48) 26 (39) o (o) 48 (56) 58 (100) 61 (93) 100 (102) ‘N :(117) (173) (152) (102) AFFECTED IX I I THE QUESTIOITNAIEUB USED IN THE STUDY: A Study of the Problems Involved in College Marriages Since college campuses for the first time in history have a large proportion of married students, we.feel there will be value at this time in a study centered upon the problems of married students. We are asking several hundred couples at Michigan State College to assist us by filling out this question- naire. You are one of these couples. The results of the study will be distributed to all who take part. You will be able to compare your experience with that of other couples who have been married about the same length of time and who are living under similar circumstances. . The information you give will be used for the benefit of others in the following ways: 1. 9259999 5. It will be used in planning the marriage and family living courses at Michigan State College. The material supplied will make it possible for us to give realistic information in courses pertaining to marriage and the family. There is also a need for the material in building the off-campus adult education program. It will be publsihed so that college students everywhere may benefit. It may be used in counselling both married and unmarried students at Michigan State College. The information gained from questions covering housing will be passed on to the college admin- istration. filling out the questionnaire, please remember the following items: The study is anonymous. Do not sign your name. It will be impossible for'those conducting the study to know who filled out any questionnaire. Husband and wife should fill out the questionnaires independently of each other. We would prefer that the completed questionnaire not be shown to the partner, except for questions 28, 29 and 30, concerning income, where the husband and wife should work out the questions together. The wife should fill out the questionnaire which has the extra section concerning “Home Manage- ment Practices” attached to the back. After completing your own questionnaire, seal it in one of the small envelopes; then put the small envelopes of both husband and wife in the large envelope. (Those living in the Trailer Camp should turn the questionnaire in at the Trailer Office without postage. The Office will see that it is placed in the box to which we have already addressed it: (Lois Pratt, L-7). Those living in Lansing or East Lansing should put the business reply envelope in any mail box, (addressed to Dr. Judson T. Landis, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Michigan State College, East Lansing, Michigan.) Please answer each question. The completed questionnaire should reflect your own reaction. 1. a. Husband-----------------------_ b. Wife ........................ (Check one) 2. Number of children 3. Are you a veteran? a. Yes ......................... b. No _________ _ ______________ 4. Is wife working outside home? a. Yes ______________ b. No ................... c. If working, number of hours per week 5. Are you attending college? a. Yes ................ b. No ................. Year in college, if attending: a. Freshman.....-.------_- ; b. Sophomore--_-_-_’ ........ -; c. Junior ................ ; d. Senior ................ ; e. Graduate ............... ; f. Special ‘ If not in college, highest grade completed ................ 8. Age when married"... ........... 9. How long have you been married? ___________________________ years; months. 10. Length of acquaintance before marriage: ........ ”.-__--_------_'.years; ____________ .. ............................ months. 11. How long did you date your spouse before marriage? ____________ years; ........................... months; 12. Were you engaged? a. Yes... ........... b. No ............... i 13. Ifiengaged, how long? years; -, . .-..--._---__-.months; or -weeks. ' 14. Under what circumstances (where and how) did you your first meet your spouse? 15. 16x. 16y. 162. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. How close did you live to your spouse’s family when your dating began? If in same town, how many blocks or miles .' ._ __---_.-___-_? A If in different town, how many miles ?.. Before coming to college did you and your spouse ever have a place where you could live alone? a. Yes-_.---__-___--- b. No .............. i i If so, how long? weeks; .......... months; ......... _ .................... . ............ years. How close did you live to your spouse’s family before coming to college? ‘ a. If in same town, (1) how many blocks-__-_----- -, or (2) miles. , ............ or (3) same house ............ ? b. If in different town, how many miles ................. ? _ ' If you lived in same house with your spouse’s family, how long? ................... weeks; ----.----_----__months;' ........... _years. . Where do you live now? (Check one) : a. Trailer camp--- .--.__-; b. Barracks-------..-..; c. At home with parents ............ ; d. Your own home ____________ ; e. Your own apartment------..--.,.-_-; f. Single room-r_..---_----_--- How long have you lived there? .................. Are your parents living? (Check) : a. Both living--- - ...; b. One living ....... ..; c. Both deceased .......... Your parents are (were) : a. Married-.._..____ ; b. Divorced ............ ; c. Separated_-_-------_- What is (was) the religious preference of your parents? (Check): 1) Father: 2) Mother: a. Protestant ................ a. Protestant ________________ b. Catholic ................ b. Catholic c. Jewish ................ c. Jewish ________________ d. Other ................ d. Other .............. e. None e. None ............... Is (was) your father a church member? a. Yes __ b. No ________________ Is (was) your mother a church member? a. Yes b. .No_____#,-.___, 23. 24. 25. ' 26. 28. 29. 30. 31. How many brothers and. sisters do you have ? a. Brothers ' ' ' ‘ ; b. Sisters Your brothers and sisters attend or are members of the following faiths: (Give numbers that attend or are members of each faith). Protestant ............... Catholic ----_-__----._. Jewish ........... Other ' ____________ None Protestant -___-------._.... Catholic ............... Jewish -_--__--__».... Other - ‘ ..__-...._.._ None -.._--_.----_-._ Your own church preference is: assesses-’9'.“ Are'you a church member? a. Yes ................ b. No .................. In what faith do you plan to bring up your children? (Check) : a. Protestant faith .............. ,. A d.’ Other faith ................. b. Catholic faith __________________ e. Uncertain ’ --....___...._s- c. Jewish faith __________________ f. None .................. Our monthly income is $ We obtain the following amounts of- income from these sources: a. G. I. Pay S d. Deductions from Savings $ b. Husband working $ e. Borrowing S c. Wife working $ f. Help from parents $ ' g. Other (Specify) ______ , $ On a monthly basis, it is spent as follows: a.~ Rent and utilities 3 ________________________ (1. Recreation $ b. Food $ _______________________ e. Increase in Savings $ c. Clothing $ ......................... f. Other (Specify) ................ ' _ ...... $ a. Check one statement which most nearly describes your present agreement on spending the family income: ‘ 1) We agree almost all the time .................. 3) We agree half the time -__----_-_--_u_ 2) We agree most of the time -...,--___-__-_ 4) We seldom agree ................ 5) We almost never agree ............... b. In managing the money, what does your spouse do thatcauses greatest irritation to you? c. Who takes the greater responsibility for spending the money in your home? Check) : 1) Husband; ................ 2) Wife-_---..---------_- 3) About equaL_._. ...... .... d. Do you follow a definite plan or budget to make the money stretch? 1) Yes ............ 2) No---____--_ 32. 33. . Which of the following steps do you take to make the money stretch? 1) Do home canning ' List others: 2) Have own garden 6) --..__-_ ..... . ......... _ 3) Hitchhike 7) ............ M- 4) Shop cut—rate stores 8) a ........................ 5) Eat home, whenever possible .. ........ 9) .....-..--_ ________ If the family income were larger, what would you spend it for? (List in order of importance). 1. 2. .......... _._ ............................ 3. ~ 4. . Check one statement which most nearly describes your present adjustment in regard to the training and discipline of your children: No children--------__-_--__( If no children, check and go to question 333.) 1) We agree almost all the time ................. 3) We agree half the time __,-.._-___-_, - 2) We agree most of the time W.-- 4) We seldom agree ................ 5) We almost never agree . In the training and discipline of your children, what does your spouse do that causes greatest irritation to you ? . What problem (8) do you have in the training and discipline of your children which you find difficulty in discussing with your spouse? Who takes the greater responsibility for training and discipline of the children? 1) Husband 2) Wife ........... . _____ - 3) About equal------------_----_ . . Check one statement which most nearly describes your present in-law relationship: 1) excellent .................. 3) fair --_------m_..- 2) good W..- 4) poor ----__..--_----_ 5) very poor --_-.. . In in-law relationships, what does your spouse do which causes greatest irritation to you? . What problem (3) do you have in in-law relationships which you find difficulty in discussing with your spouse? . What things (if any) do your in-laws do which cause great irritation to you? . What has helped you most in getting along with your in-laws? What do you like best about your in-laws? . If there is in-law friction, in what relationship is it? (Check): 1) Husband - Mother-in-law ................. 5) Wife - Mother-in-law ----....._--__--- 2) Husband - Father-in-law ............. 6) Wife - Father-in—law m__ ......... 3) Husband - Brother-in-law .................. 7) Wife - Brother-in-law WW...“ 4) Husband - Sister-in-Iaw .................. 8) Wife - Sister-in-law _ ................ 35x. 35y. . Check one statement which most nearly describes your present adjustment in sex relations: 1) excellent _.._-......___.. 2) good _..._-___----- 3) fair _.____----_-__ 4) poor __---.__--_-- 5) very poor __....--_.._. . What one thing could you have been told before marriage which would have helped you make a better adjustment in sex relations? . What problems have you had with your spouse which have hindered your adjustment in the sex area? . In this area, is your spouse about as responsive as you would wish? 1) Yes ....... No ____________ If “No,” 2) Too responsive ...... , or 3) Not responsive enough... ........ ? . Give any other information which you feel will be of value to those helping prepare young peo- ple for marriage? . Check one statement which most nearly describes your present agreement on religion: 1) excellent .............. - 2) good __________________ 3) fair ~ ____________________ 4) poor .................. 5) very poor ................. . Is yours a mixed religious marriage? 1) Yes ____________ 2) No ............ If so, what special problems (if any) have you had because of this? . What does your spouse do in the religion area which causes irritation to you? . Is your spouse about as religious as you would wish? 1) Yes______-_--..--- 2) No“------------- If “No,” 2) Too religious ________________ , or 3) Not religious enough-__--..----_-_--? . Check one statement which most nearly describes your present agreement on the choice of mutual friends: 1) We agree almost all the time .- .............. 3) We agree half the time ---_....__-_-_- 2) We agree most of the time _____________ 4) We seldom agree .................. 5) We almost never agree ................ .- . What does your spouse do in associating with mutual friends that causes greatest irritation to you ? . Do you have enough friends to suit you? 1) Yes _________________ 2) No ............... . Who takes the initiative in making friends? (Check) : 1) Husband .................. 2) Wife ________________ .- 3) About equal ........................ 36. a. Check one statement 'which most nearly describes your present agreement on social activities and recreation: 1) We agree almost all the time ________________ 2) We agree most of the time __________________ 3) We agree half the time .................. 4) We seldom agree ___________________ 5) We almost never agree ______ _ ..... -_ b. In the area of social activities and recreation, how does your spouse irritate you the most? c. What social activities or recreations have you dropped since marriage because your spouse is not interested in them ? d. What social activities or recreations have you been able to get your spouse to take up which ‘ he (she) did not engage in before marriage? e. Does your spouse have too many outside activities (that do not include you) to suit you? 1) Yes .................. 2) No .................. 37. Rank from most serious to least serious in causing discord in your home, the following areas: .(That is, number the most serious area 1, etc.) a. ( ) Religion f. ( ) In-law relationships b. ( ) Social Activities and Recreation g. ( ) Choice of mutual friends c. ( ) Spending the family income h. ( ) Division of work in the home d. ( ) Sex relations i. ( ) (List and e. ( ) Training and disciplining the children rank any other area causing discord). 38. How serious 3 problem would you rate the area which you have ranked number 1 in question 37? (Check) : a) extremely serious -_--_-.M-____ d) not very serious b) quite serious _________________ e) trivial c) moderately serious ___________________ 39x..Have you ever considered separating from your spouse? Check) : a) Have never considered it ..- ___________ c) Somewhat seriously b) Not seriously -.-_----__- d) Seriously __________________ 39y. Check the statement which most nearly describes your marriage: a) , Very happy ............... d) Unhappy‘ _________________ b) Happy e) Very unhappy __________________ c) Average ................. 40. Knowing what you know now, would you marry before finishing college if you were unmarried? a. Yes ............. b. No---__.-_-_- c. Uncertain-w...“ Comments 41. 42. 44. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. Are you expecting a child? a. Yes b. No .................. If not, do you intend to have a child before the husband completes his college education? (More children if you have one or more now). a. Yes ________________ b. No c. Uncertain _ Comments .......... . What are the most discouraging aspects of a married student’s life? Would it be necessary for you and your spouse to discontinue schooling if you were to have a baby? a. Yes----_--- -- b. No , _____ Comments--,--.-. _ If you have children, what special problems have they created for you in your present living ar- rangement? In his (her) relationships with other students, do you think your spouse conducts himself (herself) as a married adult should? a. Yes-__-__-. b. No Comments _. ................................ (Husband) What one thing does your wife do which makes it hard for you to do your school work? (Wife) What one thing does your husband do which makes it hard for you in your present living arrangement? ‘ (Husband) Do you feel that your wife is a help to you in your efforts to get a college degree? a. Yes----_._-._ _- b. No Comments ______ (Wife) Do you feel that your husband appreciates your sacrifice while he is in school? a. Yes .................. b. No- ................ Comments- (Wife) Do you feel the sacrifice is worth while? a. Yes _- b. No __________________ Why? 54. 55. If a friend of yours felt he had found the one he wanted to marry, and should ask you about the advisability of getting married while in college, what would you tell him? a. Get married.-.._..--; b. Stay single .......... ; c. Uncertain ......... ; Comments In your marriage, have you ever felt the need for a conference with a marriage counselor? a. Yes-_--..-----_--.. b. No ................. Comments_-_- 56. (If Yes to question 55), in what areas? Check): a. Handling the income ............ ; b. In-law rela- tionships-mu"; c. Sex relations“.____--.; d. Child training----__------_; e. Religion .......... ..; f. Mutual friends... ....... ; g. Social activities and recreation -.--------; h. Other ........ -- -.---.--.-__; Comments ' _______________________ 57. Do you think M.S.C. should employ a regular trained marriage counselor as a part of the counselling or guidance stafl"? a. Yes--- b. No._.-__-- c. Uncertaian Comments 58. If you had known before marriage that it would be necessary to live in your present place of residence, would you have married? a. Yes----__----.-_._ b. No __________________ c. Uncertain Comments 59. What specific things should the college do to make life happier: (List in order of importance). (In the trailer camp): (Off-campus students): 1. 1. 3. 3. ______________ __ -----_-__--_-__- 4. 4. 5. 5. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. (Trailer camp couples answer questions 60 and 61.) What is the most annoying thing about living in the trailer camp? What do you like most about living in the trailer camp? Give any other suggestions which you would like passed on to the administration concerning the college’s responsibility to married students. (Wife only) If the college should sponsor special non-credit classes for wives, in what areas would you be most interested? (Check three most interested in.) a. Music and art appreciation --_-_-----_.--_- j. World events - -_ _ -_ -_ b. Story telling for children M. k. Literature __---_--_-- c. Children’s books and toys ------ _ 1. Philosophy .-.._..___-_----_ d. Religious education mm. m. Sociology --_-.___-_--_ e. Consumer education --_--------_..-. n. Psychology _--.--_.._--.-.._ f. Marriage adjustment 0. Meal preparation - .._____-_ 3‘. Child training "an--.“ p. Weaving __---._---- h. Furnishing a home --..-_---..,--_ q. Home management -.--_-_-__-_ i. Buying insurance ................. r. Clothing --_.__----.__m 3 Sewing -..-...-__---- Would you attend these classes if they were offered? a. Yes ________________ b. No----_..-----«.- - 281 - BIBLIOGRAPHY Bernard, William S. ....."Student Attitudes on Marriage end the Family," Ameriglrl MZLQLZEFL]; 3.2.1191» 1938, pp. 354—361. Burgess, E. W. and Cottrell, Leonard S. ... Predicting Success r Failure i Marrfiage, New York, 1939. Centril, Hadley ...... §£9512£.§E3lic Oninion, Princeton, 1944. Davis, Allison, Gardner, Burleigh 3., and ha y B. ...... Deep South, Chicago, 1941. Davis, Katherine B. .... Factor§_i§;the SB; Life 2: Twentvjzgg EEEQ£§§;WOmen, New York, 1929. Editors ..... EEE£§E§%E}$W%REEQQ, July 7, 1947, p. 88. Hart, Hornell, and Shields, W. ..... "anpiness in relation to age at marriage," ieaasasimil Merle. 1986» Vol- 13’ pp 403-408. Kirkpatrick, C. ..... "Factors in Marital Adjustment," Ameriggg Journal_o_f_: _S_g_c.i_c_>_l_om , 1937, Vol. 43, pp 270-283. f Landis, Judson T. ..... "Length of Time Required to Achieve Adjust— ment in Marriage," £31333}. iggioloaigj; Review, Vol. XI, No. 6, December 1946, pp 666-677. Lun db erg , Ferdinan and Farnhem, Marynia F.. M. D. 00000 Lynd, Robert S. and Helen M. ..... SC‘IluetZ, Alfred. no. no Term9.n, LBWiS Li. .0... Wallace,Henry A. and Snedecor, George .. Waller, Willard ..... Woodhouse, C. G. ..... - 282 -. BIBLIOGRAPHY (Continued) Modern Womqg: The Lost Sex, New York, 1947, condensed in Omnibook Magazine, November 1947, pp 59~98. Elfidletggg Lg Transition, New York, 1957. "The Homecomerfl Agerican.qbu§gglig§ Socigyggz. Vol. 50, pp 369—376. Peycholqgical Epciors in Marital Haeeiness, 3.- ..- “I‘- New York, 1988. Correlatigm_g£_.ggghine leculation, Ames, Iowa, 1931. 333 £21.35, A. Dynamifl Inger?) etetiol , New York, 1938. "A study of 250 Successful Families." Sociql'For_eg, 1930, Vol. 8. pp 511-532. i ‘47- ‘l 3’ \ ‘.\! .l .W r :3" i ‘ ‘ '."’ ‘ '. _ . y,~ . ‘MO,’ 1 ?1;“ '\‘."~..‘I~‘ ‘52:.Wpf 1’ 6..‘| .17. 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