Associations Between Anxiety and Marital Adjustment

Cognitive-behavioral theories of marital functioning and contextual models of close relationships highlight the importance of proximal affect states such as anxiety in couple functioning. Despite these assertions, research examining the role of state anxiety is lacking in the literature on intimate relationships. In this study, the authors examined state anxiety and marital adjustment in a sample of 45 couples. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that husbands' Time 1 anxiety can predict their own and their wives' subsequent reports of marital adjustment. Wives' Time 1 anxiety did not predict their own or their husbands' subsequent reports of marital adjustment. In this study, the authors focused on the role of husband anxiety in marital adjustment and on implications for further study of the contextual model of close relationships.