A large longitudinal study of romantic relationships found that relationship satisfaction tends to decline over time, but the decrease is sharper in relationships that eventually break up compared to those that endure. The study also identified a “critical value” for relationship dissolution. The research was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Romantic relationships are a central aspect of most people’s lives. Individuals in fulfilling relationships tend to live longer, be healthier, and experience overall better well-being. This is why most people strive to establish and maintain fulfilling romantic relationships—relationships that bring them happiness.
However, studies indicate that satisfaction in romantic relationships tends to systematically decline over the course of life. Some relationships end in dissolution, often those where satisfaction has declined more than usual. After ending a relationship, many individuals start a new one with a different partner. However, this new relationship may also follow the same general pattern of declining satisfaction.
Study authors Janina Larissa Buehler and Ulrich Orth note that current knowledge on romantic relationships mainly comes from studies of young adults in relatively brief relationships. They believe there is a need to examine whether these findings also apply to people in other stages of life, particularly older adults, and to longer relationships.
These researchers conducted a study aimed at better understanding changes in relationship satisfaction over the lifespan. They were particularly interested in how satisfaction differs between relationships that end in dissolution and those that continue. They also sought to explore how satisfaction changes across multiple relationships for the same individual, and what factors might explain individual differences in these changes.
The researchers analyzed data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a multi-generational research project that tracks the attitudes, behaviors, and family dynamics of over 2,000 individuals from southern California across four generations. The study focuses on how family relationships, aging, and social changes influence well-being and personal development over time. It began in 1971 with three-generation families, and a fourth generation was included in 1991. The most recent data collection was in 2005.
In their analyses, the researchers used data on gender, the presence of children in the household, relationship status, and relationship satisfaction (measured by the 10-item Gilford-Bengtson Marital Satisfaction Scale). They also calculated the duration of ongoing relationships (referred to as current relationship duration) and the duration of relationships that ended in dissolution (final relationship duration).
The study found that relationship satisfaction tends to decline over time in most relationships, but the rate of decline is much steeper in relationships that eventually end in separation. At the beginning of a relationship, couples that will later separate already report lower levels of satisfaction compared to those in relationships that will last.
Over time, this gap widens significantly, with couples headed for separation experiencing a much sharper drop in satisfaction. The study suggested that couples tend to separate when their relationship satisfaction falls to about 65% of the maximum possible score. This threshold marks a critical point at which dissatisfaction becomes too great to maintain the relationship.
For those who began new relationships after a breakup, the study revealed that satisfaction levels were higher at the start of the new relationship than at the beginning of the previous one. However, this initial boost in satisfaction does not last indefinitely. Just like in their previous relationships, satisfaction in new relationships declines over time.
Several factors were found to influence how satisfaction changes in relationships, especially in those that dissolve. Individuals with children in the household tended to be less satisfied with their relationship. In addition, younger couples were more likely to experience sharper declines in satisfaction over time compared to older couples.
Interestingly, the time between relationships was also related to how satisfied people felt in their new relationships. Those who took longer between relationships generally reported higher satisfaction in their new relationships, while those who started new relationships more quickly tended to experience lower satisfaction.
“Overall, the findings support the accumulating distress model, which posits that couples who will later dissolve their relationship have lower initial levels of relationship satisfaction and experience a more pronounced decline in relationship satisfaction over the course of the relationship. Moreover, the findings suggest that couples tend to separate when their relationship satisfaction falls below a critical value of 65% of the maximum possible score. Future research is needed to identify the relationship processes that account for the patterns of relationship satisfaction that lead to different outcomes,” the study authors concluded.
This study sheds light on changes in satisfaction within romantic relationships over the course of life. However, it is important to note that the initial participants were drawn from a small part of the United States. While many participants moved as the study progressed, this fact remains. Studies of individuals from other cultural groups may yield different results.
The paper, “How Relationship Satisfaction Changes Within and Across Romantic Relationships: Evidence From a Large Longitudinal Study,” was authored by Janina Larissa Buehier and Ulrich Orth.
