Happiness, Marriage, and Babies: Is There a Secret?

Slide 1 of 10: Synopsis

Human Development Video Activity
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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.
Big Five
Personality researchers have identified five basic dimensions of personality that remain quite stable throughout adulthood and seem to be universal in individuals around the world: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
cohabitation
A living arrangement in which an unmarried, intimately involved couple live together long-term without legal or religious sanction.
homogamy
The tendency to pair off with someone who is of similar socioeconomic status, background, interests, needs, attitudes, religion, goals, and ethnic background.
self-esteem
The way in which one feels about oneself and how one values one's self. Self-esteem can be affected by one's environment and interactions with others.
Couple sleeping in bed with their newborn

Author

Pauline Davey Zeece, University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Synopsis

This activity focuses on the relationship between marriage, happiness, and the arrival of a new baby. Internationally recognized marriage researchers, John and Julie Schwartz Gottman, present strategies for surviving marriage when baby makes three.

References

Argyle, M. (2001). The psychology of happiness. New York: Routledge.

Diener, E., Gohm, C. L., Suh, M., & Cishi, S. (2000). Similarity of the relation between marital status and subjective well-being across cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31, 419–436.

Diener, E., Suh, M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. E. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302.

Glick, J., Ruf, S., White, M., & Goldscheider, F. (2006). Educational engagement and early family formation: Differences by ethnicity and generation. Social Forces, 84, 1391–1415.

Inglehart, R. (1999). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Johnston, D. R., & Wu, J. (2002). An empirical test of crisis, social selection, and role explanations of the relationship between marital disruption and psychological distress: A pooled time-series analysis of four-wave panel data. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64, 211–224.

Pew Research Center. (2007). As Marriage and Parenthood Drift Apart, Public is Concerned about Social Impact. Retrieved on December 19, 2007 at http://pewresearch.org/pubs/526/marriage-parenthood

Shapiro, A. F., Gottman, J. M., & Carrere, S. (2000). The baby and the marriage: Identifying factors that buffer against decline in marital satisfaction after the first baby arrives. Journal of Family Psychology, 14(1), 59–70