1986/08/01 by Arline M. Rubin, James R. Adams · 3 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Demography #Family Dynamics and Relationships #Happiness #Jealousy #Marriage and Sexual Relationships #Openness to experience #Population #Psychology #Sexually active #Social psychology #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1080/00224498609551311
openalex publication_date 1986/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This study follows up a 1978 matched sample of 82 couples to find out if there were differences in marital stability between the sexually open and the sexually exclusive couples. In 1983 no statistically significant difference in marital stability was found. Of couples providing follow‐up data, 23 (68%) of the 34 sexually open couples and 32 (82%) of the 39 sexually exclusive couples were still together. Of the 23 couples who were sexually open in 1978, two couples had changed from a contract of sexual openness to one of sexual exclusivity; of the 32 couples originally exclusive, one couple changed in the interim to a sexually open marriage. In addition, data on marital happiness, extramarital sex, jealousy, changeableness, job change, and additional education are reported and a comparison between the two groups made. Differences between the two groups were found in number of people living in the household, job change, and additional education. Couples in the sexually open group were more likely to have either additional people or fewer people in their households. Both higher education for women and outside work for women were associated with marital instability, irrespective of group.