Effects of spouse support and hostility on trajectories of Czech couples' marital satisfaction and instability

This article examines differences in the role of spouses' hostile and suppo rtive behaviors in predicting level and change in marital satisfaction and marital instability. We propose 2 competing hypotheses. The first hypothesi s proposes that hostility is relatively volatile and support is relatively stable, and that change in hostility affects change in marital outcomes ove r the course of the study, whereas the overall level of support functions t o maintain the level of marital outcomes. The second hypothesis argues that change in marital satisfaction is a function of change in support, whereas change in marital instability is a function of change in hostility. We tes ted the hypotheses by fitting growth curves to 3 waves of panel data collec ted from 436 Czech couples between 1994 and 1996. The results offer some su pport for the first hypothesis. However, the dominant pattern was for level and change in spouses' reports of their hostility to affect both wives' an d husbands' level and change in marital instability, respectively and for t he level and change in husbands' reports of their support to predict level and change in wives' marital satisfaction. Other variables suggested by pre vious research in the United States and by the Czech transition to a market economy are examined.