The Impact of Personality Disorders on Longitudinal Change in Relationship Satisfaction in Long-Term Married Couples

Personality disorders (PDs) are significantly, negatively related to marital satisfaction. We examine how maladaptive personality is related to change in marital satisfaction over time utilizing data from the St. Louis Personality and Aging Network (SPAN), a longitudinal, community-based study of personality and health in older adults. Participants were assessed at baseline for PD (self-report, informant-report, and structured interview); self- and spouse-reported relationship satisfaction assessed at baseline and five follow-ups was analyzed with latent growth curve modeling. Higher levels of PD at baseline were associated with lower self and spouse relationship satisfaction at baseline. On average, satisfaction did not change significantly over the study period, but there was significant individual variability. Higher levels of schizoid PD were protective of declines in partner's perception of satisfaction. Findings suggest that partners in long-term married unions may have adapted to the presence of their own or their spouse's level of personality pathology.