Stable unhappy marriages

Using the 1988 National Survey of Families and Households, this study examines the prevalence and determinants of stable unhappy marriage. Exchange theory predicts that the costs and benefits of remaining in the current marriage, the barriers to change, and the attractiveness of alternatives explain marital stability. Age, lack of prior marital experience, commitment to marriage as an institution, low social activity, lack of control over one's life, and belief that divorce would detract from happiness are all predictive of stability in unhappy marriages. Several other factors in the analysis, however, do not have a strong influence on stability. Although the exchange perspective may be helpful in the selection of variables and interpretation of results, it does not point to the specific factors that will have the greatest influence on the stability of relationships.