Children and marital happiness

Read Stephanie Coontz's op-ed discussing a new study here. A brief excerpt follows:

The [study] found that the average drop in marital satisfaction was almost entirely accounted for by the couples who slid into being parents, disagreed over it or were ambivalent about it. Couples who planned or equally welcomed the conception were likely to maintain or even increase their marital satisfaction after the child was born.

Marital quality also tends to decline when parents backslide into more traditional gender roles.

Be sure to read what follows on why traditional gender roles are bad for marriage with children . . . it should not surprise us.