Top Strengths of Happy Vs. Unhappy Stepcouples

Top Ten Strengths of Happy versus Unhappy

Couples Creating Stepfamilies

Study Background:

The following research comes from an anlysis of 50,575 couples taking the PREPARE-MC relationship inventory.  PREPARE-MC (Marriage with Children) is a premarital relationship profile for those planning to marry with children.  It is just one of five related profiles that are used throughout the world (over 2 million couples have taken one of the five profiles to date).  There is a profile for premarital couples (with and without children), married couples, older couples, and cohabiting couples (visit Life Innovations for more details).

This immediate study involves couples taking the PREPARE-MC profile for pre-remarital couples creating stepfamilies.  We will be post-testing many of our sample to learn how remarital relationships change over time as couples move into stepfamily life.  A book describing our findings is being written and should be released next year. 

Given their overall satisfaction and consensus scores ("Positive Couple Agreement") couples were classified as either “happy together” or “unhappy together.”  Of our original sample of 50,575 couples there were 19,198 happy couples and 15,433 unhappy couples.  The middle third of our sample was excluded in this specific analysis because either both people’s marital satisfaction scores were moderate or one partner was “high” and the other “low.”  Excluding this group helps us to have a clearer picture of the differences between happy and unhappy couples.

Top Ten Strengths of Happy Vs. Unhappy Couples Creating Stepfamilies:

The following information represents the strongest item from 10 different relationship categories on the PREPARE-MC profile.  Collectively, these 10 items predicted with over 90% accuracy whether couples were happy/satisfied with their relationship or unhappy/unsatisfied.  The percentage shown represents both a level of satisfaction and couple agreement as to whether or not that part of their relationship is a strength.

Read the percentage score this way: Example #1 – “91% of happy couples agree that they are able to resolve their differences while only 16% of unhappy couples agree that they can resolve their differences.”

                                                                  Happy        Unhappy

                                                                  Couples      Couples

                                                               (n=19,198)      (n=15,433)

1.  We are able to resolve our differences.             91%           16%

        (Conflict Resolution)

2.  My partner understands how I feel.                  93%           21%

        (Communication)

3.  My partners moodiness is not a problem for me.  79%           12%

        (Personality Issues)

4.  We agree on how to spend our money.              80%           26%

        (Financial Management)

5.  We enjoy many of the same leisure activities.     85%           32%

        (Leisure Activities)

6.  We are creative in handling differences.             89%           44%

        (Couple Flexibility)

7.  My partner does not use affection unfairly.         97%           51%

        (Sexual Relationship)

8.  Jealousy is not an issue in our relationship.         89%           44%

        (Couple Closeness)

9.  We are satisfied with how we express our

     our spiritual values and beliefs.                         88%           47%

        (Spiritual Beliefs)

10.  We have worked out issues and hurts from

        past relationships.                                       61%           21%

        (Marriage Expectations)

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This table lists the one best item from each PREPARE-MC category that best discriminates between happy and unhappy couples using the Positive Couple Agreement (PCA) score.