How does personality matter in marriage? An examination of trait anxiety, interpersonal negativity, and marital satisfaction

Although trait anxiety and its aliases (negative affectivity, neuroticism) have frequently been found to be associated with marital dissatisfaction, f ew efforts have been made to identify the precesses through which trait anx iety exerts its influence. This study reports findings from a 13-year, 4-ph ase longitudinal study in which trait anxiety, measured when spouses were n ewlyweds, consistently predicted marital negativity which, in turn, was ass ociated with partner's marital dissatisfaction. some support was also found for effects of trait anxiety on partners marital satisfaction, independent of marital negativity, as well as for the idea that trait anxiety is direc tly related to spouses' own marital satisfaction. Trait anxiety did not dis tinguish couples who divorced from those who remained married, and it gener ally did not predict declines in marital satisfaction. The disagreeable imp act of trait anxiety on marriage was evident at the outset of marriage and was stable over time.