Findings

Listing of Pair Project Findings

The following is a list of findings from the PAIR Project in order of the articles in which they originally appeared, through 1995. We are currently updating to include the most recent articles. For the full citation of these articles, please see our annotated bibliography.

Atkinson & Huston (1984), Sex role orientation and division of labor early in marriage.

McHale & Huston (1984), Men and women as parents: Sex role orientations, employment, and parental roles with infants.

McHale & Huston (1985), The effect of the transition to parenthood on the marital relationship.

Huston, McHale, & Crouter (1986), When the honeymoon's over: Changes in the marriage relationship over the first year.

Crouter, Perry-Jenkins, Huston, & MacHale (1987), Processes underlying father involvement in dual-earner and single-earner families.

Crouter, Perry-Jenkins, Huston, & Crawford (1989), The influence of work-induced psychological states on behavior at home.

MacDermid, Huston, & McHale (1990), Changes in marriage associated with the transition to parenthood: Individual differences as a function of sex role attitudes and changes in the division of household labor.

Huston & Vangelisti (1991), Socioemotional behavior and satisfaction in relationships.

Ponzetti, Zvonkovic, Cate, Huston (1992), Reasons for divorce: A comparison between former partners.

Johnson, Huston, Gaines, Levinger (1992), Patterns of married life among young couples.

Crawford & Huston (1993), The impact of the transition to parenthood on marital leisure.

Huston & Geis (1993), Women and men as spouses: How do gender-related attributes and beliefs influence marital behavior?

Huston (1994), Courtship antecedents of marital satisfaction and love.

Vangelisti & Huston (1994), Maintaining marital satisfaction and love.

Huston & Chorost (1994), Behavioral buffers on the effects of negativity on marital satisfaction.

Atkinson. J & Huston, T. L. (1984): See the abstract

	Spouses' sex-role attitudes are associated with the number of hours wives work outside the home (p. 331).
	Spouses' sex-role attitudes are not associated with the number of hours husbands work outside the home (p. 331).
	The more hours husbands are employed, relative to their wives, the less likely they are to engage in feminine household tasks (p. 333).
	Husbands who feel skilled at carrying out feminine tasks tend to do more of them (p. 333).
	Wives who are low in femininity or who are married to men with nontraditional sex role attitudes tend to do more masculine tasks (p. 335).
	Wives who are more skilled at masculine tasks, and who have husbands who are less skilled at those tasks, tend to do more masculine tasks (p. 335).
	Husbands who feel more skilled at carrying out masculine tasks are less likely to perform feminine tasks (p. 336).
	Husbands who are more feminine are less likely to perform masculine tasks (p. 336).
	Husbands who are more masculine are more likely to perform masculine tasks (p. 336).
	Spouses who are more traditional in their patterns of outside employment also tend to be more traditional in the way they divide household tasks (p. 342).
	Employment and sex-role orientations account for more of the variance in feminine tasks than they do for masculine tasks (p. 337).

McHale, S. M., & Huston. T. L. (1984): See the abstract

	Fathers' femininity is positively correlated with their perceived skill in childcare, and with their preferences for being involved with childcare activities (p. 347).
	Husbands who feel skilled at childcare before becoming parents tend to feel skilled afterward (p. 347).
	Wives who have more traditional sex-role attitudes tend to want less involvement from their husbands in childcare activities (p. 347).
	Wives' feelings of competence with regard to their childcare skills are not stable over the transition to parenthood (p. 347).
	Although spouses' role preferences are not related to each other before they become parents, afterward, mothers' femininity and mothers' skill are inversely related to fathers' preferences for being involved in childcare (p. 347).
	Mothers who work more hours outside the home tend to be less involved with their children, both in terms of childcare activities and leisure activities with the child (p. 349).
	The more mothers work outside the home, the less central their children are to their activities at home and to their leisure activities outside the home (p. 349).
	Fathers who work more hours outside the home tend to spend less time engaged in leisure activities with their children (p. 349).
	Fathers who feel skilled or who have nontraditional ideas about parenting roles are more involved in child-oriented activities (p. 349).
	Fathers who feel skilled or who have nontraditional ideas about parenting roles tend to do more caregiving, relative to play and leisure activities with their children (p. 349).
	When fathers feel skilled at childcare activities, family members are more likely to do things together as a family (p. 349).
	Mothers who have less traditional sex-role attitudes tend to be less involved with their child and tend to engage in fewer childcare activities (p. 349).
	Mothers who work more outside the home prefer their husbands to be more involved in childcare (p. 349).
	Mothers who are highly involved in child-oriented activities tend to report stronger preferences for and skill at childcare after their babies are born (p. 349).
	Mothers who have less traditional sex-role attitudes and role-preferences have husbands who are more involved in childcare tasks (p. 349).
	Mothers who have less traditional sex-role attitudes and role-preferences have husbands who engage in proportionately more caregiving than leisure activities with their children (p. 349).
	The number of hours mothers work outside the home is not associated with their husbands' involvement in childcare activities, but it is associated with the amount of caregiving relative to leisure activities performed by husbands (p. 349).

McHale, S. M., & Huston. T. L. (1985) See the abstract

	Parents increase joint instrumental activities more than do nonparents (p. 298)
	Wives who become parents experience more of an increase in the performance of household tasks than do husbands who become parents (p. 300).
	Parents report more of a decline in positive behaviors than do nonparents. (Note: this decline is due to a higher frequency of positive behaviors when the wife is pregnant.) (p. 300).
	Parents' personal leisure time decreased more than did that of nonparents (p. 301).
	Parents spend less time conversing with each other than do nonparents (p. 303).
	Wives are more dissatisfied with the division of household tasks than are husbands (p. 303).
	Parents are less satisfied with their financial situation than are nonparents (p. 303).
	Wives who become parents are less satisfied with the amount of influence they have in their relationship than are wives who are nonparents (p. 303).
	Husbands who become parents are more satisfied with the amount of influence they have in their relationship than are husbands who are nonparents (p. 303).
	Parents were less satisfied with the amount of time they have for leisure activities (p. 303).
	Wives were less satisfied with the quality of their interaction than were husbands (p. 304).
	Husbands were less in love with their partner than were wives (p. 304).
	The frequency of positive behavior is less stable for those who become parents than it is for nonparents (p. 305).
	The frequency of husbands' instrumental activities is more stable for parents than it is for nonparents (p. 305).
	The duration of wives' leisure with kin was more stable for parents than for nonparents (p. 305).
	The duration of wives' leisure time was less stable for parents than for nonparents (p. 306)

Huston. T. L., McHale, S. M., and Crouter, A. (1986): See the abstract

	Cohabitating couples are less traditional in terms of husbands' and wives' involvement in household tasks (p. 274).
	Spouses' satisfaction decreases during the first year of marriage (p. 275).
	Spouses' feelings of love decrease during the first year of marriage (p. 275).
	Spouses' ambivalence increases during the first year of marriage (p. 275).
	Spouses' satisfaction with the amount of interaction they have with each other decreases during the first year of marriage (p. 275).
	Spouses' satisfaction with the extent to which their partner initiates pleasurable activity, shows negativity and shares physical intimacy decreases during the first year of marriage (p. 275).
	Wives are more dissatisfied with their marital interaction than are husbands (p. 275).
	Wives feel less love for their partners than do husbands (p. 275).
	Spouses' performance of instrumental tasks increases during the first year of marriage (relative to their leisure activities) (p. 276).
	Parents have a higher proportion of joint instrumental to leisure companionship after a year of marriage (p. 276).
	Parents tend to spend less time in recreational activities and more time engaged in instrumental activities after a year of marriage (p. 276).
	Spouses' leisure activity together declines over the first year of marriage (p. 276).
	Spouses spend less time talking to each other after a year of marriage (p. 276).
	Spouses tend to express less positivity toward each other during the first year of marriage (p. 277).
	Spouses' general assessments of the amount of negativity increased over the first year of marriage (p. 277).
	Wives tended to be more involved with kin than did husbands during the first year of marriage (p. 278).
	Husbands tended to be more involved with friends than did wives during the first year of marriage (p. 278).
	Negativity is a stronger barometer of spouses' feelings about their marriage than is positivity (p. 279).

Crouter, A. C., Perry-Jenkins, M., Huston. T. L., & McHale. S. M. (1987): See the abstract

	Husbands in dual-earner marriages report higher levels of negative marital interaction than do husbands in single-earner marriages (note, however, that the variability among dual-earner husbands is extensive) (p. 358).
	Fathers in dual-earner marriages report doing more than twice as many childcare activities alone as fathers in single-earner marriages (p. 358).
	Fathers in dual-earner and single-earner marriages did not differ in terms of the amount of childcare done with their spouse or the amount of play activities with their child (p. 358).
	Fathers in dual-earner marriages who work more hours tend to be less involved with child-oriented leisure (p. 358).
	Fathers in single-earner marriages who perceive they are more skilled at childcare tend to be more involved in childcare done with their spouse (p. 358).
	Fathers in dual-earner marriages who love their wives more tend to do fewer leisure activities alone with their children (p. 359).
	Fathers in dual-earner marriages who love their wives more tend to do less childcare with their. wives (p. 359).
	The correlations between fathers' love for their wives and three variables (childcare done alone, childcare done with their wives, and leisure alone with their children) are significantly different for dual-earner and single-earner fathers (p. 359).
	Fathers in dual-earner marriages who spend more time engaged in childcare activities (both alone and with their wives) tend to report more negative marital interaction (p. 3s9).
	The correlations between fathers' reports of negative marital interaction and two variables (childcare done alone and childcare done with their wives) are significantly different for dual-earner and single-earner fathers (p. 359).
	Single-earner fathers who perceive they are more skilled at childcare tend to engage in more childcare activities with their wives (p. 359).
	Although single-earner fathers' perceived skill at childcare during phase 1 is associated with their involvement with childcare (alone) at phase 3, the same association does not hold for dual-earner fathers (p. 360).
	Fathers in dual-earner marriages who report more negative interactions tend to be less in love with their wives (p. 360).
	Fathers in dual-earner marriages who are more satisfied with the division of childcare tend to be more in love with their wives (p. 360).
	Fathers in dual-earner marriages who report more negative interactions tend to be less satisfied with the division of childcare (p. 360).
	Although there is no difference between dual-earner and single-earner husbands' love at phase 1, by phase 3, dual-earner husbands are significantly less in love with their wives than are single earner husbands (p. 360).

Crouter, A. C.. Perry-Jenkins. M.. Huston. T. L.. & Crawford, D. W. (1989): See the abstract

	Husbands who score high on fatigue and stress perform fewer household tasks than those who score low on fatigue and stress (p.374).
	Husbands who score low on stress, low on depression, and high on arousal tended to engage in more active leisure than husbands who score high on stress, high on depression, and low on arousal (p. 375).
	Wives report more negative interactions with their husbands when their husbands report relatively high levels of stress (p. 375).

MacDermid. S. M.. Huston. T. L.. & McHale. S. M. (1990): See the abstract

	Parents and nonparents do not differ in terms of their satisfaction with their relationship or their love for each other (p. 319).
	Parents and nonparents do not differ in terms of the amount of positive and negative behaviors they report (except that those who have children during the first year of marriage report an extremely high number of positive behaviors during the pregnancy) (p. 319).
	Parents experience more of a decline in the extent to which their partner is involved in their leisure and instrumental activities than do nonparents (p. 319).
	Parents engage in significantly more joint, child-oriented activities than do nonparents (p. 320).
	Wives who become parents during the first year of marriage work outside the home fewer hours per week than do other groups (e.g., those who become parents during the second year of marriage, those who do not become parents) (p. 320).
	Wives who become parents increase their participation in household tasks and childcare tasks more than do wives who do not become parents (p. 320).
	Husbands' participation in household tasks remains constant regardless of whether they become parents (p. 320).
	Husbands' participation in child-oriented household tasks increases when they become parents (p. 320).
	Although the overall amount of time spent engaged in leisure activities did not differ for parents and nonparents, the amount of personal (non-child-oriented) leisure time did (p. 320).
	Spouses' sex-role attitudes become more traditional over the first two years of marriage (p. 321).
	Wives are slightly less traditional than are husbands (p. 321).
	Fathers with more traditional sex-role attitudes who are involved in more childcare and household tasks tend to be less in love with their wives and tend to be more negative (p. 321).
	Mothers with more traditional sex-role attitudes in marriages with a relatively equal division of labor tend to be less in love with their husbands and tend to be more negative (p. 321).

Huston, T. L., & Vangelisti, A. L. (1991): See the abstract

	Husbands' negativity during the first year of marriage is associated with declines in wives' satisfaction (p. 426).
	Wives' negativity during the first year of marriage is associated with declines in their own satisfaction (p. 427).
	Wives' sexual interest during the first year of marriage is associated with a lack of decline in their marital satisfaction (p. 427).
	Wives' satisfaction during the first year of marriage is associated with increases in husbands' negativity (p. 427).

Johnson, M. P, Huston. T. L., Gaines, S. O., & Levinger, G. (1992): See the abstract

	Symmetrical couples participate equally in the paid labor force, show little role differentiation, pursue separate leisure activities, but are less differentiated with regard to their participation in leisure with friends and kin than parallel couples (p. 411).
	Parallel couples show more role differentiation, husbands are the primary breadwinners, household task performance is highly sex typed, and spouses spend comparatively little time pursuing leisure activities together (p. 411).
	Differentiated Companionate couples are highly companionate, are not differentiated with regard to leisure participation with kin and friends, show an asymmetrical pattern of household work and a moderately asymmetrical pattern of labor force participation (p. 411).
	Role Reversed couples are those in which the wives are the primary breadwinners. They have nontraditional gender patterns of household task performance, are highly companionate, and fairly differentiated in terms of leisure activities with friends (p. 412).

Ponzetti, J. J., Zvonkovic, A. M., Cate, R. M.. & Huston, T. L. (1992): See the abstract

	Former wives report more reasons for their divorce than do former husbands (p. 390).
	Former husbands report proportionally more circumstantial reasons (e.g., physical separation, financial issues) and dyadic conditions (e.g., differences in standards, expectations) than do former wives (p. 390).
	Former wives report proportionally more individual reasons (e.g., one partner wanted his/her freedom) and dyadic behaviors (e.g., conflict, abuse, communication) than did former wives (p. 390).
	Former spouses tended to agree about four reasons for divorce: physical separation, differences in marital standards or expectations, individual behavior, and health problems (p. 391).
	Former spouses tended to disagree about six reasons for divorce: influence of family, friends, involvement of counselor or other professional, other social network forces, miscellaneous dyadic behavior, and abuse (p. 391).
	Former spouses who demonstrated high levels of agreement as to the cause(s) of their divorce tended to focus on individual behaviors, couple communication, physical separation, work issues, individual cognitions, individual emotions, and differences in marital standards (p.392).
	Former spouses who demonstrated moderate levels of agreement as to the cause(s) of their divorce tended to focus on dyadic adaptability and seeing a counselor or other professional together (p. 392).

Crawford, D. W., & Huston. T. L. (1993): See the abstract

	New fathers spend less time engaged in independent leisure activities than do new mothers or nonparents (p. 439).
	New fathers spend less time engaged in leisure activities that they like but their wives dislike after the transition to parenthood (p. 439).
	New fathers spend less time engaged in leisure that both they and their wives like (p. 439).
	New mothers spend less time in conflict-of-interest leisure than do new fathers (new fathers spend more time in conflict-of-interest leisure) (p. 440).
	New mothers spend more time in their preferred leisure activities without their husbands (the opposite is true for new fathers) (p. 440).
	New mothers spend more time apart from their husbands in leisure activities that they like, but that their husbands dislike (the opposite is true for new fathers) (p. 440).

Huston, T. L. & Geis, G. (1993): See the abstract

	Spouses are more alike than they are different with regard to personality and sex-role attitudes (p. 448).
	Husbands who report that they have instrumental qualities and wives who report that they have expressive qualities are not more or less likely to ascribe to themselves attributes that stereotypically belong to the opposite sex (p. 448).
	Although wives who report that they have egalitarian sex-role attitudes tend to be slightly more instrumental, expressiveness, instrumentality, and sex role attitudes are minimally related (p. 449).
	Although wives who are instrumental tend to be married to expressive husbands, there is little evidence that stereotypically masculine men marry stereotypically feminine women (or vice-versa) (p. 449).
	Spouses tend to have similar sex-role attitudes.
	Spouses who follow a traditional marital role pattern (who have gender-differentiated roles and are quickly drawn toward parenthood) do not differ in terms of instrumentality and expressiveness (p. 450).
	The more time husbands work outside the home, the more time wives spend doing household tasks (p. 451).
	The more time spouses spend working outside the home, the less time they both spend doing household tasks (p. 451).
	Spouses who have relatively liberal sex-role attitudes tend to spend more time working outside the home (p. 451).
	Wives who are married to expressive men tend to spend more time working outside the home (p. 451).
	Husbands who are married to expressive wives tend to spend less time working outside the home (p. 451).
	Wives who have nontraditional sex-role attitudes tend to spend less time engaged in household tasks (p. 451).
	Husbands' involvement in household tasks is not a reflection of their own, or their wives' sex-role attitudes (p. 453).
	Spouses are equally likely to express positive and negative affect toward each other (p. 453).
	Spouses who are expressive tend to have partners who are more affectional (p. 454).
	Wives who are more expressive tend to engage in more sexual intercourse with their husbands (p. 454).
	When spouses tend toward unhappiness, there is a positive association between husbands' expressiveness and both partners' level of affection (p. 454).
	Wives' egalitarianism is positively related to their tendency to express negativity when they and their husbands are unhappy (p. 456).
	Husbands spend more time than wives pursuing independent leisure activities with friends (p. 458).
	Wives spend more time than husbands pursuing independent leisure activities with family (p. 458).
	Wives who have relatively liberal sex-role attitudes tend to spend less independent leisure time with family than do wives who have traditional sex-role attitudes (p. 458).
	Husbands who have relatively liberal sex-role attitudes tend to spend less independent leisure time with friends than do husbands who have traditional sex-role attitudes (p. 458).

Vangelisti, A L., & Huston. T. L. (1994): See the abstract

	Spouses' satisfaction with their communication is associated with their more general marital satisfaction during the second and third years of marriage (p. 174).
	Newly married wives' satisfaction with their ability to visit with friends and relatives as well as their ability to spend time with their husbands is associated with their marital satisfaction (p. 174).
	Wives' satisfaction with their sexual relationship is associated with their marital satisfaction during the second year of marriage (p. 174).
	Wives' satisfaction with their ability to influence their spouse is associated with their marital satisfaction during the third year of marriage (p. 174).
	Husbands' satisfaction with their ability to influence their spouse is associated with their marital satisfaction during the second year of marriage (p. 174).
	Wives' satisfaction with their sexual relationship is associated with their love for their husbands during the third year of marriage (p. 175).
	Newly married wives' satisfaction with the amount of time they have to engage in their own leisure activities is associated with their love for their husbands (p. 175).
	Husbands' satisfaction with their sexual relationship is associated with their marital satisfaction during the first year of marriage (and marginally associated with their marital satisfaction during the second and third years of marriage) (p. 175).
	Husbands' satisfaction with communication is marginally associated with their love for their wives during the first and second years of marriage (p. 175).
	Husbands' satisfaction with their finances is marginally associated with their love for their wives during the second year of marriage and is significantly associated with their love during the third year of marriage (p. 175).
	Changes in husbands' marital satisfaction over the first three years of marriage are marginally associated with their satisfaction with the amount of influence they have in their marriage (p. 177).
	Changes in wives' marital satisfaction over the first three years of marriage are significantly associated with their satisfaction with the amount of influence they have in their marriage (p. 177).
	Changes in husbands' love for their wives are associated with their satisfaction with the division of household tasks (p. 177).
	Changes in wives' love for their husbands are associated with their satisfaction with communication (p. 177).
	Changes in wives' love for their husbands are associated with their satisfaction with the amount of influence they have in their marriage (p. 177).
	Wives' satisfaction with communication during the first year of marriage is associated with their husbands' expression of positive (not negative) affect (p. 179).
	Husbands' satisfaction with the division of household tasks during the first year of marriage is negatively associated with the number of household tasks performed by husbands (not the number performed by wives) during the first year of marriage (p. 179).

Huston, T. L. (1994). See the abstract

	The more quickly partners fall in love, the shorter their courtship, the more rapidly their commitment escalates and the fewer the number of downturns they experience (p. 51).
	The more quickly partners become sexually involved, the shorter their courtship, the more rapidly their commitment escalates and the fewer the number of downturns they experience (p. 51, 54).
	The more couples reportedly experience conflict, the longer their courtship lasts, the slower their commitment accelerates, and the more downturns they experience (pp. 51-52, 54).
	Men's love and maintenance are negatively associated with the length of their courtship, the rate of acceleration, and the number of downturns they experience (p. 52).
	Men's ambivalence is positively associated with the length of their courtship, the rate of acceleration, and the number of downturns they experience (p. 52).
	Women's ambivalence is positively associated with the number of downturns they experience during courtship (p. 52).
	The course of courtship-particularly the rate at which the couples' commitment accelerates-is more closely aligned with men's than women's psychological orientations toward their partner (p. 53).
	The longer the courtship, the more slowly commitment accelerates; and the more downturns, the less satisfied and in love spouses are as newlyweds (p. 57).
	Couples who fall in love more slowly are less in love and less satisfied as newlyweds (P. 57).
	Couples who fall in love more slowly reported being less in love and more ambivalent about their relationship when they reached the "couple" stage of their courtship (p. 57).
	Couples who experience more conflict premaritally are less in love during their courtship and are more ambivalent about their relationship (p. 58).
	Couples' love before marriage is positively associated with marital love and satisfaction (p. 58).
	Couples' ambivalence before marriage is negatively associated with marital love and satisfaction (p. 56).
	The amount of conflict couples experience before marriage is inversely associated with their marital satisfaction and love (p. 56).
	Wives' premarital ambivalence predicts declines in both wives' love and husbands' satisfaction (p. 59).
	Wives married to husbands who are less in love when the couple is dating also tend to fall out of love after they become married (p. 59).
	Ambivalence before marriage predicts both husbands' and wives' love and satisfaction after they are married (p. 59).
	Compared with those who stay married, couples who separate or divorce are involved in longer courtships, courtships in which commitment accelerated more slowly, and courtships having more downturns in commitment (p. 60).
	Compared with those who stay married, couples who separate or divorce are younger when their relationship is first initiated (p. 61).

Huston, T. L., & Chorost, A. F. (1995). See the abstract

	Wives engage in more maintenance behaviors than husbands (p. 16).
	Spouses' maintenance behavior declines over the first two years of marriage (p. 16).
	When newlywed husbands are highly affectionate, negativity has little association with their wives' marital satisfaction; when husbands are low in affectional expression, wives' marital satisfaction varies considerably as a function of husbands' negativity (p. 17).
	Wives' maintenance is significantly associated with husbands' satisfaction when spouses are newlyweds (p. 18).
	Spouses' satisfaction covaries with their partner's level of maintenance as newlyweds and two years into marriage (p. 18).
	Husbands' maintenance behaviors mitigate the impact of their negativity on wives' marital satisfaction (p. 18).
	Husbands' affectional expression as newlyweds attenuates the impact their early negativity has on declines in their wives' satisfaction (p. 20).

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