Navigating the past and present: Links among family-of-origin adversity, secure attachment behaviors, and marital satisfaction

Objective: Guided by the vulnerability-stress-adaptation (VSA) model, we examined associations among family-of-origin adversity, secure attachment behaviors, and marital satisfaction. Background: Not all individuals with family-of-origin adversity have an unhappy marriage. We examine secure attachment behaviors to understand links between family-of-origin adversity and marital satisfaction. Method: We used multilevel structural equation modeling with five-waves of dyadic survey data (N = 1,827 couples) drawn from a nationally representative sample of 2,178 U.S. newly married couples. Results: We tested between-couple and within-couple effects. At the between-couple level, spouses with higher secure attachment behaviors reported greater marital satisfaction, wives' elevated attachment levels attenuated declines in their marital satisfaction over time, husbands' family-of-origin adversity interacted with their secure attachment behaviors, and wives' satisfaction was lower only when husbands reported both high adversity and low attachment. At the within-couple level, increases in spouses' secure attachment behaviors were associated with concurrent increases in their own and their partners' satisfaction. Conclusion: The findings support the importance of secure attachment behaviors in promoting satisfaction in marriages, whether as a newly married couple or over time as a married couple. Implications: We provide insights for couples and family life educators on the importance of secure attachment behaviors in promoting marital satisfaction and how to help spouses navigate the negative influence from their adverse family of origin. Additionally, couple therapists and marriage enrichment programs could tailor interventions for men and women, given that secure attachment behaviors operate differently as key adaptive processes for husbands versus wives per the VSA model.