ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the implications of the distinct process roles that men and women play in making marriages work. It establishes differential longitudinal trajectories with respect to the unfolding of central high-risk criteria, particularly divorce and the marital satisfaction of the remaining stable couples. Gottman reported that men in happy marriages played a role of de-escalating negative affect, but only when it was low intensity. When it was high in intensity, men did not de-escalate in happy or unhappy marriages. Another aspect of marital interaction that has received scant attention is the role of positive affect in predicting the eventual fate of marriages. Marital therapy is known to universally have a huge relapse problem; in general, only about 20 to 30 percent of couples who make initial gains in marital satisfaction have maintained these gains after 2 years. The children were totally buffered from the each negative effect of dysfunctional marital conflict and from marital dissolution for every outcome.
