The research team utilized 172 newlywed couples that met their criteria. The couples participated in the research for 10 years, where each couple had to take part in the experiment every six months for four years of the experiment. For every time they participated in the experiment, each couple was instructed to either complete questionnaires through e-mail or participate in 3-hour lab sessions with the accompaniment of questionnaires and interaction tasks. Each couple did the 3-hour lab with the accompaniment of questionnaires and interaction tasks twice (first and third meetings) and completed and submitted questionnaires through e-mail six times (second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth meeting). All couples were assessed …show more content…
Observations reported that high levels of BPD symptoms between husbands and wives showed a significant and positive correlation with increased levels of marital dissatisfaction and negative problem-solving and supportive skills and behaviors when couples face adversities between each other and within themselves. As for BPD symptoms possibly having the ability to predict divorce within 10 years, although 22% of the 172 newlywed couples were divorced before reaching 10 years of marriage, research still lacks significant evidence that BPD symptoms increases the prediction of a divorce between a married couple (Lamkin, Lavner, & Miller, …show more content…
One of the most significant findings from this research was that there was a negative correlation of BPD symptoms between couples, with respect to problem-solving and support skills. Another finding that shows similar results is the negative correlation of BPD symptoms between marital satisfaction and dissatisfaction between couples and within themselves. As for BPD symptoms being able to predict a divorce, there was no significant evidence found to support this claim. However, the most important finding of this research was that a high number of couples were still together after 10 years, despite BPD symptoms affecting the quality of their relationship. This finding supports the notion that couples with high levels of BPD symptoms are less likely to leave low quality, troubling marriages due to a certain level of adaptation and attachment that has taken place with their partners (Lamkin, Lavner, & Miller,