The Effects of Lack of Joint Goal Planning on Divorce over 10 Years

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 9; p. e0163543
• Main Authors: Gere, Judith, Almeida, David M, Martire, Lynn M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.09.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Aging; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Children; Decision making; Demographics; Divorce; Emotions; Medicine and Health Sciences; Neurosis; Objectives; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Planning; Quality; Regression analysis; Research and Analysis Methods; Social Sciences; Studies; Surveys; United States > US; Pennsylvania
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163543

Given the negative consequences of divorce on health and well-being, it is important to try to identify its predictors. In the current study we used data from the National Survey of Midlife Development (N = 2801) to examine the longitudinal effects of lack of joint goal planning with a romantic relationship partner on divorce over a 10-year period. Multilevel regression analyses showed that lack of joint planning with the relationship partner was associated with a 19% increase in the odds of divorce, even when controlling for various demographic (i.e., age, gender, relationship length, number of children in the household), individual (i.e., neuroticism, positive affect, negative affect, physical symptoms, planning), and relationship (i.e., marital empathy, partner strain, partner disagreement, marital satisfaction, commitment). These results demonstrate the importance of considering one's partner when making decisions and plans for the future, given that it has clear implications for relationship dissolution.