Predicting Premarital Relationship Stability: A Methodological Refinement

Predicting premarital relationship stability has been done in a variety of empirical investigations. To date, none of these studies have attempted to control for the length of the relationship at initial contact. Thus, such studies may have confounded measures of involvement or commitment with the length of the relationship. The purpose of this study was to predict relationship satisfaction while statistically controlling for the length of the relationship. One hundred thirty-one participants completed assessments of involvement, reward level, comparison level for alternatives, satisfaction, and chance of marriage. Relationship stability was assessed three months and seven months later. Through the use of analysis of covariance, the variance due to the length of the relationship at the initial contact was removed from each of the predictor variables before the main effect (relationship status) was assessed. After controlling for length, results indicated that involvement, reward level, and chance of marriage were all significant predictors of stability both at the three-month follow-up and at the seven-month follow-up.