Family-of-Origin Experiences and Adjustment in Married Couples

Within this article a model is tested that examines the relationship between married individualsʹ experiences in their family of origin and patterns of marital adjustment. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling procedures, making the couple the unit of analysis. This allowed for an exploration of how one partnerʹs family-of-origin experience and the other partnerʹs family-of-origin experience uniquely influence each of the partnerʹs experiences of the marriage. Two aspects of the results stand out. First, both husbandsʹ and wivesʹ family-of-origin experiences emerged as significant influences on marital adjustment. Second, the data suggest that wivesʹ experiences within their family of origin are more strongly related to both their own accounts of their marriages and their husbandsʹ accounts of their marriages than are husbandsʹ family-of-origin experiences.