Whose Decision Was It? The Effects of Initiator Status on Adjustment to Marital Disruption

Abstract

The role of initiator status was examined in terms of its mediating effect on adjustment to marital disruption. It was hypothesized that initiators (persons who indicated taking major or exclusive responsibility for deciding to end their marriages), in contrast to noninitiators, would have been more aware of marital dissatisfaction and preseparation stress-related symptoms, would have been more in favor of the decision to separate, and would report fewer postseparation symptoms and more postseparation life satisfaction. Findings, based on a sample of 144 persons interviewed on three occasions following their separations, suggested that there were not overwhelming differences in marital dissatisfaction or preseparation discomfort between initiators and noninitiators but that initiators consistently perceived more benefits to the separation. In most cases in which being the initiator appeared to play a mediating role in postseparation adjustment, its effects were more pronounced in the case of women than of men.