Marriage

Introduction

I conducted interviews with two couples for this assignment. One couple are acquaintances I met in my first few months here at The University of North Alabama, who since then have gotten married and moved to Nashville so the wife, age twenty-two years old, can complete a degree in Pharmacology while the husband, aged twenty-three years old, works as a store manager. They have been married for less than a year, but have been a couple for almost eight years, and currently have no children. They are originally from Tuscumbia, Alabama. The second couple is two close family friends from my hometown of Jasper, Alabama. The couple has been married for twenty-two years and has two daughters, aged eighteen and sixteen. The oldest daughter is currently enrolled in college, and the youngest is still in high school and recently received her driver’s license. They have been a couple for twenty-three years. The wife, forty-seven years of age, is a principal at an elementary school, and the husband, forty-six years of age, is a director of finance at a school board. This work seeks to address the interviews conducted with these couples and compare and contrast their relationships concerning conflict, household roles, communication, commitment, and enduring marriages. In some instances, the younger couple had seemingly new and underdeveloped concepts of communicating or expressing themselves, but has found effective marriage management styles nonetheless. It is evident in some concepts that the older, more experienced couple have found personalized, effective ways of navigating their marriage in order to make it an overall more pleasurable experience. Each of these concepts will be defined and backed by research found in ...

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...eption. Finally, both couples expressed opinions and facts on their own marriage successes and how religion played into them, with the common ground serving as building blocks for both of their successes. While the younger couple also attributed to finding their “best friends” within each other, the older couple attributed much of their success to their committed mindsets. I would like to attempt to repeat their communication and conflict styles in my own relationship someday, as their conflict resolution seems to contribute to both successful marriages. However, I hope to be less of a “demanding” wife, and that conflict will be more of a dialogue early on in our marriage. Finally, I believe the guidelines to a successful marriage are healthy conflict, communication, and role sharing in the home, as all three have made positive contributions to these marriages.