Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Initial Sample and Final Sample of Couples at Time 1.

	Initial sample		Final sample
Characteristic	Middle-aged (n = 82)	Older (n = 74)	Middle-aged (n = 63)	Older (n = 64)
Mean age, husbands (SD)	44.9 (2.9)	64.3 (3.1)	44.6 (2.8)	64.0 (3.0)
Mean age, wives (SD)	43.8 (2.9)	62.8 (3.3)	43.7 (2.9)	62.5 (3.0)
Mean marital duration (SD)	21.3 (3.5)	40.5 (3.7)	21.1 (3.5)	40.2 (3.4)
Mean number of children (SD)	2.2 (1.0)	3.2 (1.4)	2.1 (1.0)	3.3 (1.4)
Percentage with children at home	78.0	14.9	77.8	14. %
Percentage of husbands working full or part time	98.8	91.9	98.4	93.8
Percentage of wives working full or part time	85.4	66.2	85.7	64.1
Percentage European American	80.5	91.9	80.2	95.2
Mean Time 1 marital satisfaction (SD)	108.7 (16.0)	114.1 (16.0)	110.4 (15.7)	114.3 (16.3)

Note: Marital satisfaction was calculated by averaging scores on two well-established self-report

measures: (a) the Marital Adjustment Test (Locke & Wallace, 1959) and (b) the Marital Relationship Inventory (Burgess, Locke, & Thomes, 1971). For the final study sample, there were no differences between middle-aged and older couples with regard to martial satisfaction.