Congruence, Desire for Change, and Adjustment During the First Year of Marriage

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study was an examination of the marital relationship during its first year to discover what relations exist between congruence on initial values and role expectations, and marital adjustment and the desire for spousal change. It was found that congruence was positively related to marital adjustment and negatively related to the desire for spousal change, although this relation was statistically significant only at one month of marriage. Few gender differences were found, although a consistent relation between wife'S desire for spousal change and husband'S marital adjustment was found. Findings can be taken to suggest that successful couples make adaptations within their marital systems and that initial expectations are not predictive of marital adjustment during the first year of marriage.