(validating, volatile, and conflict-avoiding) are associated with marital stability and

satisfaction. While none of the three regulated types entered the model as a significant

predictor of low role dissatisfaction, the hostile couple conflict type was the only type

predicting high role dissatisfaction. This suggests that although couples may be

approaching negotiation of household and parenting roles with different conflict styles,

they are relatively similar in their ability to negotiate roles they find satisfactory. The

validating couples may have somewhat of an advantage in this regard as their couple

conflict type was the only one significantly related to low role dissatisfaction in the

correlation matrix. This finding is similar to Holman and Jarvis's study (2003), in which

the validating type was usually more strongly associated with positive outcomes than the

other two regulated types, although the volatile and conflict-avoiding types were still

more often associated with positive rather than negative outcomes.

 Lastly, higher individual well-being was found to be a predictor of lower role

dissatisfaction. This finding suggests that in addition to relationship factors, the welfare

of the individuals in the relationship is associated with how satisfied partners are with

their roles. In addition to or despite how the couple actually shares family tasks, each

partner's level of anxiety, depression, or positive well-being may influence how satisfied

they feel with their current role arrangements.

Predictors of Wives' and Husbands' Levels of Violated Expectations

 Predictors of wives' and husbands' levels of violated expectations were

investigated through the second research question of this study. For both partners, task

differentiation, role dissatisfaction, marital disaffection, the level of individual well-

being, couple conflict type, age, infant age, and income level were entered into stepwise

regression analyses as possible predictors. However, the results of the regression were