Hopes and concerns in couple relationships across adulthood and their association with relationship satisfaction

The study explored goals in couple relationships, and determined their association with age and the level of satisfaction expressed with the relationship. The participants were made up of 355 volunteers, aged between 20 and 78, who had been in a relationship for more than 6 months. The sample was gathered to ensure an age and gender balance. Participants' goals were ascertained by means of three sentence stems that they completed by expressing a general expectation, a hope, and a concern as regards their relationship. Satisfaction with the relationship was measured by means of Hendrick's Relationship Assessment Scale. Responses to the open-ended sentences were content analyzed and categorized. The frequency of these categories was associated with age, which indicated that an orientation toward growth was less frequent and an orientation toward maintenance was more common in older groups. Except in the youngest group, satisfaction with the relationship was negatively correlated to gains, and positively to maintenance. The study emphasizes the changes experienced in couple-related goals across adulthood and their relevance to satisfaction with the relationship, issues which have received little research attention to date.