Negative affectivity and educational attainment as predictors of newlyweds' problem solving communication and marital quality.

This investigation examines the role of negative affectivity and educational attainment in newlywed couples' mutual problem solving and marital quality (i.e., personal commitment and divorce proneness). The vulnerability-stress-adaptation (VSA) model of marital development was used as a framework to explain the relationships between enduring vulnerabilities, adaptive processes, and marital quality. Dyadic analyses and tests of indirect effects were performed on data from 186 couples who had been married on average for 1.5 years. Spouses' negative affectivity and educational attainment were significantly associated with their own and their partner's mutual problem solving, personal commitment, and propensity to divorce. In addition, there was evidence supporting the assumption that the relationships between enduring vulnerabilities and marital quality can be explained, in part, by mutual problem solving for husbands. This study highlights the important role that enduring vulnerabilities have on mutual problem solving communication and marital quality.