Shared Attitudes and Couples’ Break-up Plans

Maria Brandén, Stockholm University
Eva Bernhardt, Stockholm University

This study examines whether couples where partners share notions on what is important in life show greater union stability compared to couples where partners disagree. The Young Adult Panel Study 2009 includes >1000 Swedish heterosexual couples with self reported attitudes for both partners. Using stepwise logistic regressions we examine how sharing notions on the importance of work, family and leisure activities is associated with couples’ break-up plans. We expected similar couples to have fewer break-up plans. We also expected similarity to be more important for family orientation as well as for areas that partners consider very important. Preliminary results indicate that couples with leisure oriented men more often have suffered from break-up plans, whereas the opposite applies for family oriented couples. Sharing attitudes however has no association with break-up plans. Hence it seems as if it is the attitudes rather than sharing these attitudes that are associated with relationship quality.