Do attitudes toward divorce affect marital quality?

Exchange theory predicts that people who adopt favorable attitudes toward d ivorce invest fewer resources in their marriages, thus eroding marital qual ity. Cognitive dissonance theory predicts that people who experience declin es in marital quality adopt more favorable attitudes toward divorce as they anticipate leaving the relationship. This study tests both hypotheses. Nat ional, longitudinal data and structural equation models are used to estimat e reciprocal paths between changes in attitudes toward divorce and changes in marital quality. The data provide stronger support for the exchange theo ry hypothesis than the cognitive dissonance hypothesis. Adopting more favor able attitudes toward divorce appears to undermine marital quality in the l ong run.