The effects of children on marital satisfaction Parenthood is an important event in the life of a couple marked by numerous changes that can affect the marriage. Depending on how couples handle this new adversity, it could mean the difference between stability and divorce for their family. This is why "for decades, there has been much debate in the marriage and family literature about whether having a baby causes substantial declines in the average couple's relationship" (Doss, Rhoades , Stanley and Markman, 2009). Additionally, couples become parents during the first five years of marriage, which is considered the most significant time for divorce in a relationship. To prepare new parents for the challenges of parenthood, it is important to explore the effects of children on marital satisfaction. The results of previous studies are often contradictory. LeMasters' (1957) study showed that the start of parenthood constitutes a crisis event for families. However, other research by Russell suggests that the transition to parenthood can be both a positive and negative event (as cited in Keizer, Dykstra, & Poortman, 2010). The purpose of the study below was to see if the transition to parenthood is actually associated with a decline in marital satisfaction. Unlike previous research, this one will include some added changes to improve the validity of the result. The changes include the addition of a controlled group (couples without children), so that changes that normally occur in a relationship over time are not attributed. transition to parenthood (Lawrence, A. Rothman, Cobb, M. Rothman, & Bradbury, 2008). Only couples voluntarily without children were accepted for the controlled group. Indeed, couples without ...... middle of paper ......od.This information is very beneficial for couples because they will now be better prepared to deal with this inevitable problem that happens to everyone . One limitation of this experiment is that all subjects came from the same location. A better sample of subjects could be obtained by selecting samples from all countries to obtain better representation. The duration of this experience was also 5 years. It is possible that marital satisfaction improves over the course of a longer experience. Although this experiment helps confirm some of the questions regarding the transition to parenthood, many other questions arise from the result. One such question is: If non-parents have more marital satisfaction than parents, why do they divorce more than parents? In the future, it would be interesting to test the advantages of having children and compare them to the disadvantages..