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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 32, No. 12, 1579-1594 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167206292691
© 2006 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Positive Illusions in Marital Relationships: A 13-Year Longitudinal Study

Paul J. E. Miller

The Ontario HIV Treatment Network

Sylvia Niehuis

Utah State University

Ted L. Huston

The University of Texas at Austin

This study examined the long-term consequences of idealization in marriage, using both daily diary and questionnaire data collected from a sample of 168 newlywed couples who participated in a 4-wave, 13-year longitudinal study of marriage. Idealization was operationalized as the tendency for people to perceive their partner as more agreeable than would be expected based on their reports of their partner's agreeable and disagreeable behaviors. Spouses who idealized one another were more in love with each other as newlyweds. Longitudinal analyses suggested that spouses were less likely to suffer declines in love when they idealized one another as newlyweds. Newlywed levels of idealization did not predict divorce.

Key Words: agreeableness • divorce • idealization • marriage • positive illusions


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