Record Details

Early Years of Marriage Study, 1986-1989

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Field Value
 
Title Early Years of Marriage Study, 1986-1989
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/E3IHEN
 
Creator Veroff, Joseph
Hatchett, Shirley
Douvan, Elizabeth Ann Malcolm
Orbuch, Terry
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description This four-year longitudinal study, which began in 1986, investigated factors related to marital stability in the early years of marriage. Subjects were residents of Wayne County, Michigan who were less than age 35 at marriage. The main sample consisted of 373 couples (199 African American couples, and 174 white American couples) along with a control group of 59 couples (38 white American couples and 21 African American couples). The 1987 data collection included the participation of 347 couples. In 1988, 264 couples participated, and 252 couples responded in 1989.




The key areas of study included the following: premarriage factors (social status, family background); marital factors (cognitions, interpersonal perceptions, and attitudes); perceived and actual interactions as a couple; stresses and social network; and marital feelings.



In the first year of the study (1986), spouses were interviewed individually by staff from the Survey Research Center from the University of Michigan. The inclusion of an audiotaped couple interview enabled couples to tell the story of their relationship from start to present, as well as discuss their respective attitudes about rules for marriage. The second year (1987)entailed a telephone interview with each spouse. During the third year (1988), each spouse participated in another individual interview, followed by a second audiotaped couple interview. Finally, in the fourth year (1989) each spouse was individually reinterviewed by telephone.




The Murray Research Archive holds numeric file data from wave I through wave IV for both individuals and couples, and audiotapes of narratives with each couple from wave I and wave III.



Audio Data Availability Note: This study contains audio data that have been digitized. There are 886 audio files available.
 
Subject Social Sciences
 
Type longitudinal