The traditional definition of marriage is a union of love sanctioned by the partners as they take their vows of love, respect, honour and fidelity. Both partners promise to contribute to their marriage by devoting themselv

In conclusion, the two marriages demonstrate how individuals are responsible for making their marriages work. It is indeed true that some spouses have been predisposed to factors that increase their odds of divorce, but in most cases the real reasons lie within the individual’s efforts and how they perceive their marriage. The Role Specialization hypothesis and the Exchange theory explain how individuals perceive themselves and their partners within the union, which behaviours are expected and what is intolerable. Marriage is a partnership and a constant struggle between giving and taking. To have a successful marriage, these two things must be constantly kept in balance. That is why marriages such as Diana and Phil’s work and that of Isabel and Theodore’s failed.

As divorce factors one cannot overlook the influences of the individual’s parents. The “intergenerational transmission of divorce” has caused “lower commitment to marriage (Heaton, 2002:393).” As Heaton suggested in Factors Contributing to Increasing Marital Stability in the United States, parental marital stability and its transfer to adult children, “Has created a feedback loop leading to ever-higher martial instability in each subsequent generation (Heaton, 2002:394).” In addition the psycho-sociological impact of parental divorce, it must also be noted that there has been a great amount of focus on identifying personality traits that increase divorce and their genetic basis and their heritability (Teachman, 2002). It must not be forgotten that children also influence parents’ rate of divorce greatly. According to Marital Happiness and Marital Duration and the U-Shaped Curve: Evidence from a Five-Wave Panel Study authors Amato, Johnson and Van Laningham show that

It is almost unanimously agreed upon that, “Age at marriage is probably the most consistent predictor of marital stability identified in social science research (Heaton, 2002:395). In the study conducted by Heaton, age at marriage as a factor in leading causes of divorce demonstrated to have the greatest impact on marital stability. More stable marriages and decreased rate of divorce have all been directly related to increased age at marriage (Heaton, 2002). The age at marriage theory leads to the development of also very important theories such early teen sexual activity that has been related to increased odds of divorce in the future for those individuals. Early involvement in sexual practices can cause teen pregnancies and low-commitment attitudes towards marriage in the future. Cohabitation before marriage also lowers the level of commitment with which one regards marriage. It provides an alternative to marriage with much less of the obligations or the perceived responsibilities because each partner at any given moment has the chance to simply walk away without much to lose (Heaton 2002; Teachman 2002; Vetter 2001).

From the Exchange theory, Theodore had absolutely nothing to offer and to attract Isabel. The net attraction had been decreasing from their first day of marriage, to the time when “Theodore left Isabel and went off to Florida by himself ..[and] the next day Isabel delivered a stillborn child (Wrenn 1980)” to when he started to be unfaithful to her. There had been great costs in staying in this marriage for Isabel with very little rewards or perhaps nothing at all. It seems that for both of them, alternative options seemed more attractive. On Isabel’s part it is understandable that any alternative relationship would be more rewarding and attractive than her marriage to Theodore. However Theodore had his own alternative relationships with prostitutes and girlfriends as well. He even left Isabel to be with another woman for some time only to comeback without any sense of remorse. As it is painfully obvious Theodore has had absolutely no barriers operating on his behaviour. There has never been an internal barrier that encouraged famil

Some topics in this essay:
Role Specialization, Van Laningham, Specialization Theory, Economic Opportunity, Exchange Theory, Dian Phil, Theodore Theodore, Opportunity Hypothesis, Frisco Williams, Family Issues, role specialization, exchange theory, marital happiness, role specialization hypothesis, specialization hypothesis, et al, net attraction, marital stability, age marriage, marital happiness divorce, cause divorce, o’brien 197798”, et al 2002, happiness divorce dual-earner, divorce dual-earner households,